If you get this joke...

then you probably 'get' me (Nick), at least a little.

Does everybody know what time it is? (Nick)

If you just said "Tool Time!" in your head, you might like this post.

This year I used the Pinewood Derby and my work schedule as excuses to purchase a band saw. I've wanted one for a long time. Shortly after that, I realized I had three benchtop tools and really no good bench top on which to use them. I began to formulate plans for a workbench on which I could mount my new saw, my miter saw and the drill press. I had previously built a workbench on a smaller scale and thought I would use the same general plan with some adjustments to the dimensions. Here's the old one:
It's fairly simple construction. Two by four lumber with lap joints. It doesn't sound very sturdy, but trust me when I say it is. Each lap joint is held together by eight 3-inch-long deck screws. Plus it has a shelf at the bottom to store the essentials. You can find the plan for this on hammerzone.com.

I decided to make the top with 3/4" plywood rather than the 1/2" I'd used the first time. This was mostly due to my tendency to over-engineer things. I figured there would be significant weight from the tools, so why not beef up the top? Also, it had to be mobile so I could move it around the garage as needed. Finally, and most importantly, it needed to be large enough that I could mount all three of these tools on it without having them interfere with one another. I took some measurements of the tools and planned the arrangement carefully. I also decided to lower the height by about four inches to accomodate the height of the worktables on the drill press and band saw.

The initial result is at left. I put the shelf under the lower framework rather than over it because I didn't want tools falling off the bench while I was moving it. Of course this means I am relying on the 14 screws holding it in rather than on gravity, but I'm fairly confident that it will hold over time.

One real problem I ran into with this bench is that I had to cut 4x8 foot sheets of ply with no table saw. Sure, one can use the circular saw with a guide, but it really wants to come away from that guide as the saw gets further and further away. It makes for ugly cuts. I saw someone's suggestion (on instructables.com) on how to make a guide out of hardboard and some aluminum channel, but I didn't have those handy. Then I realized my straightedge had two pieces, each 4' long. So I set them on either side of my cut line, the exact with of the saw base apart. It still got a little dicey at the far end as I was nearing the end of the cut, but it was a lot better. (I did support the right side of that sheet, in case you're wondering. And also in case you're wondering, this picture is not of a full 4x8 foot sheet.

I'm not quite done with this yet. I need some more 3/8" bolts to finish mounting the tools. Just tonight I bored a hole through the top and ran the power cords through it. I will be obtaining a heavy-gauge extension cord and using it to power a 4-way outlet on the cart so that all the tools can be plugged in at all times and I only need to plug in the bench when I need to use a tool. I plan to install a work light in the center that will be able to reach all the tools. I hope to install probably some dust collection as well.

As with most things in my life, it'll probably never really be 'finished'. There will always be something else I want to do to 'finish' it, more 'tweaks' to apply until the day I die.

Lemon Lovers'. . .

Today for Easter Sunday dinner I made my version of a fancy cake called Lemon Lovers’ White Chocolate Cake. I don’t go to this much effort too often. The cake is one that a friend introduced to me while living in Illinois. It was fantastic. We then had it again for book group dessert. The book we were reading was “The Lemon Jelly Cake” (preview 20+ pages of the book here), a fun book I thoroughly enjoyed as I escaped back to the other turn of the century (1900). Although this is not a jelly cake you get a real ZING of lemon with the lemon curd filling in the middle! These pictures are of my cake today. It was simply missing the lemon zest which always makes things look fancier. I only had a lime and wasn’t so sure the combination would be as tasty.


If you would like the recipe check out this link.
http://www.wchstv.com/gmarecipes/lemonloverschocolatecake.shtml

HAPPY EASTER ALL!

Twinkie Tribute

I seem to have a trend in that this was supposed to be posted April 8th but I didn't quite make it.

For several weeks Dan has been reminding me that he has never eaten a Twinkie. I’m not sure that is true but could easily be considering I’m not a huge fan of Hostess or Little Debbie’s snack cake types of things. There are way better things to spend the calories on. After the 2^nd or 3^rd reminder, I had a burst of inspiration. I promised him I would buy Twinkies for April 8^th and we would make it a family tradition to have them every year on April 8^th.

So now you must be wondering why April 8^th. Well that is my brother’s birth date and one of his very favorite things was Twinkies. I remember having the hostess snacks around our house as a kid. Twinkies were generally frozen and then followed by a small ritual of eating the cake first and then the cream center. I got into that for awhile. I remember when Zingers were put on the market and they were OK too but not the ones with raspberry and coconut! Not a coconut fan.

My big brother passed away 12 years ago on March 28^th. It was our anniversary. I realized the other day (probably on our anniversary) I’m the same age that he was when he passed away. That was kind of an odd feeling. His funeral was on April 1^st. It was fitting because he had a great sense of humor (not everyone knew that). My mom also went into false labor on April 1^st when she was pregnant with him and of course was sent home from the hospital to wait 7 more days. We have joked that his humor had an early start.

So we each had a Twinkie after dinner to remember our uncle, brother in law and brother. Sam needs to learn more about his uncle since his was given his middle name because of my brother. Twinkies will become a new April 8^th tradition.

When my brother was in the hospital recovering from some fairly major surgery, I remember him asking for some contraband. He just wanted Twinkies. I think someone did fill that request. When he passed away among the many floral and plant arrangements stood a most unique vase full of Twinkie flowers. They were individually wrapped Twinkies covered with bright spring colored cellophane and attached to a wooden dowel. Those Twinkies were memorable and taken to the cemetery for a Twinkie Roast, something any passerby would scratch their head at but fun none the less. Now the Twinkie I used for the Twinkie Roast shortly after he was buried was kept in our glove box for years. I think it even made it to Michigan with us. Actually I think its still in there. It is true, Twinkies NEVER mold and maintain their same look for a LONG time. Unfortunately they did not preserve my brother. I love him and miss him but so glad he has a wonderful family that I can still be close to. Well not physically since we live at opposite ends of the US. So for some this might seem an odd post. But it’s what I’m thinking of knowing he must be so happy with his family and all the exciting things that have happened and are happening this year even though he can’t be there physically. I know he is there in spirit.

***UPDATE 11/17/12

Sad day in my family with the latest decision of Hostess.  Think of it as you will, Unions or greedy management salaries.  Doesn't matter as it just reminds us not everything is permanent and must be enjoyed while they last.  For our family it will be the simple reminder of my brother gone.  I'll still remember him though.  I think of him often.  I don't need a Twinkie to do so.  Although it breaks a tradition we started so that is sad.  We will have to fill it with some other fitting tribute.  Maybe something Scouting related.  

Also a comment back back when this was originally posted in 2009 was from my sister.  She reminded me of the Christmas tree that the family did for the Salt Lake City Festival of Trees.  It was so fun to work on it.  It was a Twinkie tree.  Twinkie ornaments.  I wish I had access to pictures of it right now!  I was thinking there were red wagons on it too no?  If anyone has a picture please send along!  Fun memory!  I miss the Festival of Trees!  I'm going to miss Twinkies, at least once a year.

Whoopsie.

You've had two posts from the lady of the house in a matter of hours, so I figure it must be time for a manly post.

Around 2 pm on Friday, I was in the lab and said to my RA, "Uh-oh. I think I stuck a can of soda
in my office freezer to cool it down on Wednesday..." If you remember high school Chemistry or Physics, you remember that pressure and volume are related to temperature. You probably also remember that a lower temperature means a lower volume and lower pressure. Of course, this is not the case with water. Water expands when it freezes and increases the pressure inside the containing vessel.

Oh, yes, and if the pressure becomes too much for the vessel (i.e. soda can), it goes BOOM. In this case it went BOOM inside my office fridge/freezer. Luckily most of the pieces are still in the freezer, still frozen, so cleanup won't be too tough when I finally come back to clean it up on Saturday. I can't do it today because I am still too amused by having done this. Again.

Yep, this is the SECOND time I've blown up a soda can with this fridge. The first time was in graduate school. That time the can was sitting in the door rack over the weekend, and the temp was way too low. When I came in on the following Monday, the door to the fridge was ajar, the busted can was still on the door, and all the soda had melted into the carpet tiles on the floor. Yeah, it blew with enough force to open the fridge door.

These are pictures of the current 'event'. My only regret is that I didn't get to witness the moment of rupture. I really wonder what the sound is. I think I'm going to work on a way to set up our webcam and a light in our deep freeze and get my laptop to take periodic pictures to try to capture the moment, or at least make a cool video of the can warping and blowing as it freezes. I'll have to contain it in a plexiglass box or else I'll have an angry wife on my hands and another major cleaning project. It shouldn't be too hard to build, and then I can tell people I have experience with constructing an explosives containment vessel. :)

Could somebody validate me?

WOW, two LONG blogs from me in less than 24 hrs. I'm on a roll.

I'm hoping someone can validate my feelings towards ridiculously written questionnaires, instructions etc. Here are bits an pieces of the full page of instructions for one of the several questionnaire booklets I need to complete for Sam's ASD evaluation. My commentary is in square brackets []. This booklet is 29 pages and averages 20 questions per page. If you find yourself actually reading through this and drifting off - I can't blame you.

HEADING OF INSTRUCTIONS:
"Before beginning administration, read Chapter 2 in the Survey Forms Manual carefully."
[OK first of all this sounds like instructions to the person administering the Questionnaire = Q for short from here on out, not the person filling it out. Also Chapter 2 of the Survey Forms Manual was not provided.]

"General Directions: In each adaptive behavior subdomain, begin scoring with the time designated for the individual's age."
[OK so I know about domains and subdomains from a computer stand point but what the heck is an "adaptive behavior subdomain" its not described anywhere nor is it apparent when looking at the Q. How about somehow referencing what the domain is so I know what the subdomain is? Once again it sounds like this is for the person who gets the survey after its filled out - or am I also supposed to do the scoring?]

Then there is a list of very straight forward bulleted instructions for when to circle 2,1,0,DK=don't know, etc. This is all good because it sounds like my instructions finally.
[keep this order of 2,1,0,DK] in mind.

The last bullet item in the list:
"Some subdomains do not apply to children younger than three years of age. If the child being assessed is younger than the age of the first start point, do not administer that subdomain."
[OK again don't administer - is this instruction to me the person filling it out or the person providing it - the administrator? There is no indication as to who this information is for. I can only assume I'm supposed to understand this. Also "start points" are not specified anywhere in the Q]

Final paragraph of instructions:
"Basal and Ceiling Rules: For each subdomain, establish a basal of four consecutive items scored "2" and a ceiling of four consecutive items scored "0." The basal item is defined as the highest item in the highest set of four consecutive items scored "2." The ceiling item is defined as the lowest item in the lowest set of four consecutive items scored "0." If no basal is established, treat Item 1 as the basal item. If no ceiling is established, treat the last item in the subdomain as the ceiling item."
[could someone put that in English? Is this going to be on a test. . . Is this for me or the person I'm giving it back to once I figure out how to answer everything properly?]

OH and now I'm in BIG trouble because the front page has a copyright on it saying NO part of this booklet may be photocopied or otherwise reproduced. Uh oh, I let the cat out of the bag - this Q's instructions really stink!

OK but my very favorite peeve of this Q starts on pg 23. The Q has a heading at the top of each page stating "Response Options: 2 = Usually 1 = Sometimes or Partially 0 = Never DK = Don't Know" The numbers that follow each question come in that same order 2,1,0,DK. Now lets jump to page 23. Again the page heading reads "Response Options: 2=Usually 1=Sometimes 0 = Never" BUT then the numbers that follow each question switch order and go "0 1 2" So now after 22 pages of being programmed to know that the first number is 2 it changes to 0. It maintains this same backward order for the rest of the Q. Is this a trick to make sure we are still awake and paying attention? If so I'm thinking they aren't terribly concerned with accurate data. I was a full page into the questions on this page before recognizing the switch and of course marked several incorrect #'s. Call me unobservant but really 22 pages of the same thing, it was working, why change?

I wrote this up as a note on Facebook early this morning. I was WIDE awake. I asked myself why am I up at 1:22am writing about my annoyance from yesterday? I think it made me feel better. Maybe someone will agree with me and validate my opinion that these instructions stink.

The really encouraging news is that this was the first of 4 similar looking questionnaires. I wonder if there will be more blog posts about those. I don't even dare open them yet.

This is what’s on my mind – its long!

This is going to jump around a bit but this is what is on my mind. So I live with all boys. I don’t do lots of girly things. My home is not girly. I don’t have real glassware, I don’t pull out the china, we use plastic a lot and that is just how it goes. I haven’t given up on everything. I still wear makeup and minimal jewelry. I get my hair cut and try to incorporate some style in my life, although its all very limited. Last year I anticipated our trip to New Hampshire for Nick’s sister’s wedding. His sisters are ALL girl. They are drop dead gorgeous, have beautiful friends and all I could think of is I will not fit into this group at the wedding. I didn’t need to but wanted to feel pretty too. I didn’t manage to shed the extra pounds before the trip and so was desperately trying to figure a way to make myself feel a little extra better about myself. Through a series of events I ended up going to get a pedicure and manicure with a good friend just a few weeks before the trip. This was a first! It wasn’t really that expensive and yet it felt like such a HUGE frivol. I came home feeling great. When I arrived home Dan (9 at the time) took one look and noticed my pink toenails and clear painted fingernails and said EWWW what did you do, you don’t look like my mom! Sam (4 at the time) on the other hand said OH Mom you look so pretty, like a princess. OK nails – it’s so minor but garnered quite the reaction. I continued to paint my toenails the rest of the summer, something I had never done and I loved it. I was convinced that a pedicure would become a new tradition for me even if it was only once a year.

Now jumping to today; it was a strange day. We are now at day 9 of the kids being home for spring break. I am counting the days we had off for parent teacher last week too. It all ran together so no difference here. It’s ALL spring break. The plans for the day changed around a bit but had settled with being invited to swim with a friend at a local hotel with the boys. So I got up promptly this morning and got in the shower. Upon getting out I noticed a minor problem. The toenail I damaged back in November was only attached on one side and could easily be ripped off. It was clearly time for medical attention. The background to the toe is that on the famous Soup Saturday in November I was out on the porch chatting with a friend who was leaving with their soup when I realized I hadn't done the next step for the batch of soup that needed to be done soon. I turned around and tried to run at high speed into the house. Instead of gracefully floating into the house (ha ha) I managed to not clear the door frame and literally jammed my toe into the wood block area just below that. With great intensity I let out a line of inappropriate words that flowed much too freely only to look up and notice that I forgot another good friend was there in the living room wondering just what had happened. The toe throbbed, became swollen and looked horrible in no time. I ended up having a friend who is a nurse check it out later that day and I followed her advice. But it was inevitable, the toenail was severely damaged. All I could think of is no nice pedicure. Sniff Sniff

So this morning I taped the toenail down with medical tape and went swimming anyway. Later this afternoon I finally decided to go to the ready care facility to have it taken care of because sadly my Dr was out of town. Unfortunately between the kids and myself I have had to utilize the facility several times. I seriously contemplated trying one of the several other urgent care type facilities in town but after checking with the insurance company who was no help at all I had no guarantee of the services being covered elsewhere. I could write an entire lengthy post just on this one topic – another day. Anyway, the first time I went to the hospital ready care was a very negative experience and is ranked as one of the two worst Dr visits I ever had. I have never wanted to see the same Dr again and lucked out on all re-visits to the place up until today! Yup. I will not mention names. He is a nice personable guy and I am probably in much too critical and grumpy mood today and not all circumstances directly relate to him. But I can’t resist recapping at least part of the visit. Buy first just a few questions that crossed my mind during check-in. Why does one need to answer questions such as “when was my last period” when I’m at the Dr to be seen for a toenail that is coming off? Why do I need to provide my age when they already asked for my Birth date and should know what day it is today?

There was a 40 minute wait once put into a room (glad I brought all of the paperwork I need to fill out for Sam’s current evaluation for ASD to keep me busy – more on that in my next post or facebook). Finally there was a quick evaluation and description of the solution which was to spray the toe with some cold liquid freezing it to hopefully make it less painful to pull the toenail off! Hmmm, ten min later the nurse comes in and asks “so what we are doing”. I refrained from saying “filling out paperwork and trying to patiently wait for someone to inflict pain on me”. I explain the Dr’s description of what he plans to do (wondering why I'm having to tell her this) so she leaves to find the cold stuff. Ten more min later the Dr is back with 2 things: a sterile clamp and a bottle of cold spray. He pulls over a fabric covered waiting chair and has me put my foot flat on it (I’m on the extra high exam table). He begins to spray the cold spray getting the liquid all over the chair as there is nothing else under my foot. He tugs and sprays some more. I’m feeling pain here! He sprayed and sprayed and oh by the way the nozzle kept not working well and spraying all over other parts of my foot or on the carpet or more on the chair. Finally he was ready and started tugging and tugging. PAIN - I just bit my lip and stopped watching. I knew when he removed the nail, not because the pain stopped but because the tugging stopped. I then looked and could see the blood begin to build up. We exchanged some pleasantries and he left. Ten min later a nurse brought a tub of sudsy warm water to soak my toe. By the time she arrived I was having to balance my foot carefully on the chair rail so that the pooling blood on my toe didn’t drip onto the fabric chair or carpeted floor. Why did I feel the need to be so careful, the Dr obviously didn’t care? Another ten min later nurse #2 came in with a towel and a little normal size band-aid. I thought yeah right that little band-aid is going over this mess! She seemed kind of shocked at what she saw when my foot came out of the water. She carefully dried it and wiped off the remaining clotted blood and tried to get the band-aid to stick to my still damp foot. Yeah, no brainer it didn’t stick. But then she became my hero. She came back in with a nice gauze pad and bright purple stretchy tape! She carefully wrapped it up (although forgot to put in the topical antibiotic that the Dr mentioned to nurse #1) and taped me all up. She probably thought I was crazy but I said THANK YOU! I can’t have my pedicure so at least I get purple tape. I’m calling it my purple pedicure. As I walked out of the hospital I was limping a little but I felt like people were staring my way more than usual. I get to the car and noticed my face was terribly splotchy red. Even as I write this 6 hrs later my face is STILL ugly splotchy red from the whole ordeal. I hope I wake up without the splotchies but at least I have a purple pedicure. Sometimes you gotta take what you can get.

Tune in tomorrow for my commentary on questionnaires or should I make it insurance companies. . .