PxT

Born on 1/23/2012

1014 is finally heading home to England after over 40 years in Davis. Such a great bus, fun to drive, a classic in every way. Even the Enterprise, normally indifferent to such niche sentimentality, was there to see her off.

Saying goodbye is hard, so let's not ruin this with a lot of words, m'kay? I mean, I could talk about those special moments we shared at the Sycamore turn-around, or the sweet nothings she murmured to me after I pumped her full of fluids at the end of a hard ride, but I can see she's already turning red with embarrassment.

Next Time Try Breaking Into An Apple Store

Born on 1/20/2012

This video freaks me out.

I mean, who even uses a non-iPod MP3 player? Scary!!

Also, there's gotta be an easier way to get to class.

Kickin' it

Born on 1/18/2012

If you have been living under a rock for the last little while you may not yet be aware of Kickstarter. In a nutshell, people post “creative” projects, ask for funding from the public and then reward supporters somehow if the funding goal is met (if it’s not, nobody pays). To the rest of you who already know all this - congratulations on being hip and current. There are a ton of interesting projects on kickstarter, a bunch that are really wacky and everything in between.

I’ve backed a few different projects so far, some for a couple of bucks, others for a bit (or a lot) more, but the one I’m most excited about is printrbot. Actually, scratch that, because it’s more like giddy with excitement. printrbot is special in a couple of ways, the first being the crazy amount of money it raised on Kickstarter – more than 3300% of the original $25,000 goal, making it the most successful project so far in their “technology” category – and the second being that it is local, based out of Lincoln, CA. I had the chance to meet the founder/inventor last night and see some of the printers in action.

The point of the printrbot project is to bring 3D printing to a level that is affordable and achievable for the average person. And what can 3D printing do? Well, just about anything! You can print replacement parts for things that break, useful things to have around the house, or just some fun things for no reason at all. The possibilities are almost endless. Or to put it another way, remember when you got your first inkjet printer and all of a sudden a whole world of printing opportunities opened up? This is the same, except the printer makes real, fully-formed objects. This is a home-use Star Trek replicator (sort of).

So, that said, if all goes according to plan my printrbot kit should arrive sometime next month and I can start printing things shortly thereafter. Ideas? Broken things around your house that you can’t find a replacement for? Need a bust of Stephen Colbert? Say the word.

In which I fantasize about fireworks

Born on 1/16/2012

The boy just made the cut for a competitive soccer team here in town. I’m proud of him even though the club is affiliated with a Liverpool-based team who I could never in good faith support as a Sky Blues fan. (Although Everton does currently field Tim Howard who you may know from Team USA (USA! USA!) and/or this recent long shot against Bolton which made some headlines (BTW, fucking Bolton?? I am severely out of the loop in terms of the English Premiere League. Having lived out of the country for over 20 years now my permanent memory of which teams are any good is stalled in the late ‘80s when Bolton was a 4th division team. Apparently they’re good enough to be in the premiere league now. Times change. Also, get off my lawn you kids! (parentheses))).

Anyway, getting back to Tom - he's a natural athlete, much like his old man. Any by that, I mean of course that his athletic ability is already far superior to mine in almost every way. I never made it past the first tryout for my school soccer team as a kid and I’m fairly certain that my teammates only let me play on the adult league now because I show up and I pay on time - those traits, apparently, being harder to come by than you would think. It’s certainly not because of any special proficiency that I might have in dribbling, passing, shooting or scoring, because those are the four areas that I have yet to master. Unfortunately, they’re also the only four areas that really matter in soccer.

Luckily, sonny didn’t inherit any of my [un]natural talent and has pretty much mastered any sport that he has tried his hand (or foot) at so far. Of course this has led to the inevitable – which is to say that I now need to pony up almost $1500/year if we choose to continue this particular leisure activity. That includes the $50 “fine” I plan to pay to buy my way out of parent volunteer time. Yes, I am both the worst and laziest parent in the world but there’s no way I’m manning that fireworks booth in the middle of July unless it’s air conditioned and/or I get to set off some of the product on a recreational basis to pass the time. After all, isn’t that what youth sports teams are really all about?

And I only look at wine labels "for the articles"

Born on 1/13/2012

So… I only drink beer for the health benefits. Yeah, that's it.

As an aside, I hesitate to even link to that article because it annoys the shit out of me by splitting up the content into four unnecessary pages when a single one would do just fine. But it's somehow "better" because we as the consumers get to see four times as many ads! Great!

Please, every publisher anywhere who thinks this is a good idea: go leap to your death from the closest tall thing.