drewski_brewski

Sub-Quarterly Tractor Post - DIY Tractors

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 03:30:28 GMT

Quarterly Tractor Post

Fri, 01 May 2009 17:51:18 GMT

The theme: The day they went too far:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jfe7Dysv2Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbV5kVSouu4

Final Hike Route (Until it changes again)

Fri, 01 May 2009 17:14:53 GMT

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2781870

Diversions

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:51:26 GMT

I'm late on my quartely tractor post, but I can't dig up any material right now.

In the meantime, a fun google search is "'shove a crowbar up my nose""

It shows up with surprising regularity, and, as far as I know, has only one source, a 1980's Garfield comic strip that Uncle Jon had posted in his old bedroom. Maybe he can elaborate on it.

It came to my attention that, while quite fit, I weigh about 20lbs more than I did three years ago. I'm trying to solve that now.
Here's you're problem: http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/post/80017466/the-sandwich-of-knowledge-the-bottom-tier

No Thanks

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:41:01 GMT

I got a cold call for some kind of survey, and it's as though they think I'm Hispanic, or something (not that I take issue with that, as such), because they asked for "Andreas" (side note I have also received a few Spanish telemarketing calls - I must be on someone's list)
Anyhoo, Before I could say much of anything, the woman taking the survey asked, "Do you feel that things in Kansas have gotten better or worse?"

Gahhh!!!

I promptly said, "I don't participate in surveys" and hung up (second side note, I used to work with a guy who was one of those Police fundraiser telemarketer callers, and he said the kindest thing you can do is hang up)

"THINGS"?! Sure, I just had a peanut butter sandwich, THINGS are looking great around here!

I refuse to be a pawn in some spin doctor's game.

I wasn't always so wise, however.

I took some kind of telephone survey a couple of years ago, and vowed never to do it again. The questions are so ambiguous, there's no telling what the survey takers are trying to prove.

Update- New Hiking Route

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:00:16 GMT

We decided the pass at Silver King Lake on the previously posted hike was far too dicey, with steep scree-covered slopes and a lot of high elevation travel. The new proposed route is this:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2711894

There is a possible side trip to be made at City Reservoir. (mile 5)
Again, we will leave wichita on June 28, and return sometime the next weekend.

Here is the location within colorado

Bank of America Does Not Want My Business

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:55:02 GMT

This month I got a notification of changes to my cardholder agreement indicating that my interest rate will be changed from fixed 9.99% to roughly 15% variable. If I want to opt out, I'm basically done with the card, because subsequent card usage will trigger the new rates. The variable rate would be calculated by taking the prime rate times Pi, factored by the angle of the moon on the CEO's birthday, divided by the number of creit default swaps owned by the bank, to the nearest billion, as I understood it. If the rate is around 15%, while the prime is so low, what will it be as the prime starts to climb? I tried calling the company, but the situation appears to be non-negotiable. Maybe I'll try again. I asked if they would rather have business as it has been with my 9.9% fixed rate, , or no business at all, and their answer was no business at all.   It Does Not Make Any Sense.

I will pay off my remaining balance, switch off the couple of automatic charges I have on the card, and cancel it after we're done signing the loan for the house, credit score be damned.

There are other cards out there.

I've had this account since 2002, when it was still MBNA.

2009 Hiking Route Determined

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:36:51 GMT

I have the tentative route picked. Excessive snowpack or runoff could change this plan, but it's a "go" so far.
See the interactive version of the route map here: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2706524

Modifications

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:24:57 GMT

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out. These are good amplifiers, but they don't have enough gain to work well in a typical home audio application, so I added pre-amp stage. Total power is about 70 watts (20 + 20 + 30) I set this one up to be used as a single channel amplifier for my "tri-amped" speakers. Now that I have this fixed up, I can rebuild the large Allen amp I have on my right channel right now. There is something wrong with it, because two of the four 6L6's run too hot.

I added some nice spring terminals for the speakers, and RCA input jacks



And a super-secret toggle switch that engages a preamplifier circuit that I built!



See the extra 12AX7 on the left side of the photo? (the only socket held in with screws)

.Here is the wiring for the extra tube, and the relay that switches it into the circuit. The tube is white ceramic with red marks on the plate pins (1 and 6). Not much room in there. Point to point wiring is a pain. I used snippets of wire insulation on most of the component leads to minimize risk of shorts. The large red wires are sheilded signal wire.



Here is another detail



It's really not as chaotic as it looks, just hard to take a good picture of.

Here is a picture of all the wiring. I replaced a number of capacitors and resistors to get the circuit into shape before I made the other modifications. I had a hard time debugging a problem that turned out to be an out-of-tolerance resistor.



Here is my super-tidy electrolytic capacitor replacement job. I added two big terminal strips, and used modern electrolytics in series to match the required voltage (about 400 volts) The small capacitor and bridge rectifier in the back are the 12v DC supply for the relay coil.



.

Capacitators

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:39:44 GMT

I took these with my camcorder, then processed some with a retinix filter for that 1950's technical look..

More at http://www.flickr.com/photos/36030315@N06/with/3400929607/

Earnest money?

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:20:22 GMT

Giant Soggy Wet Blizzard

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:30:18 GMT

A nice update from my friend Stan at the Wichita Eagle

A snowy evening commute awaits Wichita, forecasters say

BY STAN FINGER

The Wichita Eagle

Snow is expected to start falling in Wichita after lunch, and several inches of snow could be on the ground by the time the evening commute gets under way, forecasters say. Anywhere from 8 to 15 inches are expected in the Wichita area by the time snow ends Saturday afternoon.

Snow could fall at the rate of 2 inches an hour at times, with north winds blowing steadily at more than 20 miles an hour and gusting above 35 mph. Those winds will gust to nearly 40 miles an hour tonight, creating zero visibility at times.

A blizzard warning is in effect for south-central Kansas until 1 p.m. Saturday.

Wichita school officials are monitoring conditions, district spokeswoman Wendy Johnson said, but there are no plans to dismiss classes early. Evening sports practices and events in the district have been canceled, however.

Garden City has recorded 4 to 6 inches of snow so far, with thunder snow being reported.

"They will easily top 20 inches," said Mike Smith, chief executive of WeatherData Services, a subsidiary of AccuWeather.

Dozens of school districts in parts of the state canceled classes today as blizzard warnings were expanded to include about half of Kansas. Predicted snowfall totals range from six inches to a foot or more, but winds of 40 miles per hour or higher are creating deep drifts and near-zero visibility.

A National Weather Service forecaster in Goodland said whiteout conditions are likely on Interstate 70 and other highways. The Kansas Department of Transportation reports snow-packed and icy conditions on highways in the western third of the state just before daybreak.

Check back frequently for updates on this major winter storm

Tarnation

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:18:23 GMT

We have up to a foot of snow forcasted for Friday-Saturday. Nornally they are way wrong. Predicting snowfall is like nailing Jell-o to the wall. Lara and I are planning on looking at houses. Hope we aren't thwarted.

Dan-Gerous

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:03:59 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUUPKEk6ds4

Oh, We're Out There

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:32:10 GMT

Mystery repairman fixes broken W.Va. traffic light

The Associated Press

BECKLEY, W.Va. - A malfunctioning traffic light that was a constant source of complaints has finally been fixed, but not by the government. A mystery repairman got the light working on Friday, three days before the state Division of Highways workers showed up to repair it.

Mayor Emmett Pugh said Tuesday that officials don't know who did it, but they're grateful.

The light quit working sometime before Christmas. Though it was the city's responsibility, city crews didn't have the expertise to repair the light and it took extra time ordering special parts.

Councilman Mike Atterson said he hopes the mystery repairman comes forward so he can thank him or her and extend a job offer.

He said other lights around town also need work.

Information from: The Register-Herald, http://www.register-herald.com

Interesting

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:42:37 GMT

I just ordered the book "Triumphs & trials of an organ builder" written by Jerome Markowitz, founder of the Allen Organ Company. It could be a good read:
..."I found out that there were two electromechanical, organ-like instruments in existence at the time. One was an experimental device I'd heard on the radio which was constructed and played by a former military man, Captain Ranger. He referred to the instrument he played as the "Rangertone". I found out that its method of tone generation was based on a complex arrangement of rotating, electromechanical disks. The other was the Hammond Organ, which was just beginning to appear on the market and rapidly gaining a following, especially in the field of popular music. It was also based on a variation of the rotating disk concept. At that time, finding and hearing a Hammond presented a bit of a challenge because only three or four such organs existed in all of New York City in 1936. However, I finally located one in a tavern in Queens. In my judgment, the instrument had a very ear-tickling sound, but my ears were also telling me that the sound it made was quite different from the sound of a pipe organ.

I continued to work on my own oscillator-based idea not knowing exactly where it would end; my first attempts were most crude. Eventually my apparatus functioned well enough for me to risk the scrutiny of some local organists. Luckily, their remarks were quite encouraging. They told me that my instrument "suggested" the sound of a pipe organ.

I remember, around that same time, talking to a boyhood friend, Bill Lenahan, who had become a church organist. He took me to his church where I had my first chance to hear a pipe organ at close range. Clearly, my rudimentary instrument sounded more like that pipe organ than a Hammond. I pressed on encouraged.

My immediate goal became clear. I was going to design and build a practical, electronic organ based on vacuum tube oscillators which would closely emulate the magnificent sound of the pipe organ. I was driven mainly by my technical curiosity; however, admittedly, fantasies of someday marketing an electronic organ began fluttering through my mind at this point. I learned that this idea had been approached by others but never marketed because of various technical flaws.

As I persevered, the main problem I encountered with the oscillator-based organ was tuning drift. Pipe organs have a similar problem, but my early oscillator designs were so drift prone that the instrument would not stay in tune long enough to be practical. Finally, after considerable effort, I discovered the solution to the tuning problem. A major breakthrough. I applied for a patent on my "stable oscillator" on October 27, 1937. The patent was granted on December 13, 1938. The brand-new, electronic organ technology was in my hands. I now was faced with what to do with it."

No Posts? No Comments?

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:25:53 GMT

What is Everyone Doing?

Not So Bad - Unless you want to buy one

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:24:14 GMT

Price of Wichita homes up

BY DAN VOORHIS

The Wichita Eagle

Home prices

Wichita had the eighth-best median home price appreciation between the fourth quarters of 2007 and 2008.

TOP 10

City	% change
1. Beaumont, Texas	16.7
2. Bloomington, Ill.	9.6
3. Dover, Del.	6.5
4. Bismarck, N.D.	6.0
5. Decatur, Ill.	5.9
6. El Paso, Texas	5.3
7. Jackson, Miss.	4.7
8. Wichita	3.9
9. Shreveport, La.	2.8
10. Amarillo, Texas	2.0

TOP 10

City	% change
144. Sarasota, Fla.	-35.0
145. Grand Rapids, Mich.	-35.2
146. Phoenix/Scottsdale	-35.5
147. San Diego	-36.4
148. Sacramento, Calif.	-36.9
149. San Fran./Oak.	-37.4
150. San Jose, Calif.	-37.7
151. Riverside, Calif.	-40.8
152. Saginaw, Mich.	-41.4
153. Fort Myers, Fla.	-50.8

The median home price in Wichita rose in the fourth quarter of last year versus the fourth quarter of 2007, a piece of good news that contrasts with the painful fall in home prices nationally.

In a survey released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors, the median home price in Wichita was $118,200 in the fourth quarter, 3.9 percent higher than a year earlier.

That placed Wichita eighth in the nation in price appreciation. Just 19 of 153 metropolitan areas gained or were flat. The rest had a loss, pushing the country as a whole to a 12.1 percent loss.

The worst area was Fort Myers, Fla., which saw houses sell for half what they did a year earlier.

But the association's report isn't perfect in showing the changes in value of houses, said Stan Longhofer, director of the Center for Real Estate at Wichita State University.

It reflects which segments of the market are selling as much as changes in home prices, he said.

For instance, he said, tighter lending requirements in 2008 meant fewer buyers for houses priced under $100,000.

With fewer low-priced houses selling, the median price rises.

"It doesn't necessarily mean everybody's home has gone up in value," Longhofer said.

"My expectation is that what we've seen is that home prices have been basically flat. But compared to the rest of the country, that's a good place to be in."

Several real estate agents agreed that most of the market seems be pretty active.

"We are getting a lot of activity and people looking, but not a lot of contracts, so far," said Jerry Jackson, broker with Gold Key Realty, 3535 W. 13th St.

"I think they're waiting to see what happens with the stuff going on in Washington."

Remember the Flat Line JITB Taco Post?

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:07:03 GMT

Check out what old Steve-o is servin' up:
http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/cat_steve_dont_eat_it.php

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:48:34 GMT

USING ONLY ONE WORD! It's not as easy as you might think! Copy and change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It's really ~~hard~~ lame to only use one word answers.

1. Where is your cell phone? right

2. Your significant other? work

3. Your hair? gel

4. Your favorite thing? unique

5. Your dream last night? forgot

6. Your favorite drink? java

7. Your dream/goal? adventure

8. What room you are in? historic

9. Your hobby? lots

10. Your fear? relativism

11. Where do you want to be in 6 years? satisfied

12. Where were you last night? choir

13. Muffins? bran

14. Wish list item? house

15. Where you grew up? various

16. Last thing you did? coffee

17. What are you wearing? out

18. Your tv? LN46A550

19. Your pets? Carney

20. Friends? consolodated

21. Your life? blessed

22. Your mood? optimistic

23. Missing someone? Jaylon

24. Car? Rubicon

25. Something you're not wearing? Bengay

26. Your favorite store? Monoprice

27. Last time you laughed? morning

28. Last time you cried? recently

29. Who will resend this? Tilos

I will FINALLY Be Able to Edit All Those HD Videos!

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:54:12 GMT

I followed the bunny trail at http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/151956

HP Pavilion Slimline s3710t customizable Desktop PC

• Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
• Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Quad processor Q8200 [2.33GHz]
• 4GB DDR2-800MHz SDRAM [2x2048]
• 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9500GS [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]
• FREE UPGRADE to 500GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s from 320GB hard drive
• LAN port on system board (10/100Base-T), no wireles LAN
• Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
• 15-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB, headphone port
• TV tuner, dual format ATSC-NTSC with PVR, remote
• Integrated 5.1 channel sound with front audio ports
• Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
• No additional security software
• No speakers
• HP multimedia keyboard and HP optical mouse
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope <--------[ I have no Idea what that is ]

Red Green

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:30:53 GMT

[paraphrased from memory, except for the good part]
"What we have here is one of these electric weenie roasters, it's just a lamp cord attached to two nails that you stick in the end of a hot dog, then plug 'er in. Then, quicker than Bob's your uncle, your weenie will be burnt black as silver"

Bob's your uncle: Funny Canadians.
Burnt black as silver? I don't know where that comes from, but I like it.

Route Proposal #1

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:59:24 GMT

31.7783 miles is the Holy Cross Wilderness. Varied terrain and geography, as well as moderate elevation change.

I created the route by following trails on USGS maps that are available on Gmap-Pedometer.com

I saved the route at this URL
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2492721

Backpacking Trip 'o9

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:59:40 GMT

Gentlemen,

Prepare yourselves, your gear, and your employer for the ultimate experience of 2009, a 3-night, 4 day excursion into the mountains of Colorado.

The plan is to depart Wichita on Sunday, June 28, and arrive in Colorado Springs that evening.

An early departure would be made from Colorado Springs, to arrive in Undetermined, Colorado by mid-day, and hit the trail.

Three nights and two half-days would be spent on the trail, with the option of extending the trip for a fourth night before returning to Wichita, either Saturday the 4th or Sunday the 5th, depending on the option taken.

Sound good?

Any Takers?

Once more details are planned, and I know how many are interested, I can create a gear and "to-do" list for interested parties.

The length would be between 20 and 30 miles, depending on the terrain. I don't plan on routing over any exceedingly high passes or peaks.

and remember,
Cotton Kills, an ounce in the morning is a pound in the evening, and you can tell grizzly bear droppings by the presence of jingle bells and a peppery smell.

No Google Results for "pine leg brace"

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:27:03 GMT

As in, "I Can't Beleive it's a real pine leg brace" from the music video to "Candy Everybody Wants" by The 10000 Maniacs.

Also, try out the band name generator: http://www.bandnamemaker.com/generator/

Some Band Names of My Own:

Astounding Vacuum Tube Of The Sweet Blame
Thermionic Earthquake
Thermionic Sub-Arctic
Pine Leg Brace Monday
Allen Wrench Finger And The Science
Tonewheel Chaos
Tonewheel Chief
Standard Unix Eunichs And The Tortoise
Eyebrow Of The Eunichs Unix Girl
Eunichs Unix Pirate
Delayed Hammond Eggs
Portable Hammond Eggs And The Severe Avenger
Igneous Hammond Eggs
Green Eggs And Hammond Chaos
Boatlodz Of Boltlodz Bruick And The Futuristic Grunt
Floatless Boat Float Abraham
Hot Glass Westerlings
East Westerling Neptune And The Colonel
Sixth East Westerlings
Green Pink Bismate Of The Heavenly Mold
Deep-dish Tesseract
Hammond Organized Gene And The Overtone
Thermostatic Spawn Of The Delicious Cloud
Thermostatic Spawn Of The Incoming Concept
Dreamy Dream Sans Jewlery And The Dry Goggles