Putting the boat away

So from last week's edition one bad is now a good.  The boat is on the dry land.  Getting it to the marina was fun.  The fog made it tricky as I couldn't see more than 30 yards. There was a point where I couldn't see any land.  I now have to take off all the contents and finish winterizing the engines, but it is high and dry. On another note I sparred for the first time this weekend.  I went against some folks that had more experience than I do. I felt like I was playing a video game with a character that hadn't unlocked all the moves yet, but this is real life and it hurts in real life.       

Beginning of December Good and Bad plus Cabinet project

the good: After one month still doing the Thai Boxing and I hurt less

the bad:   I haven't lost one pound

the good: The Ravens beat the Steelers on Thanksgiving

the bad:   They are 6-6 and are hanging on to a wildcard spot, but they don't look good

the good: I am in 4th place in my neighbor hood fantasy league and hopefully playoff bound

the bad:   I am in last place at 1-12 in my work league (after winning last year)

the good: I have a job

the bad: people got laid off and and we are all at risk within the next few months

the good: I have a plan to move on in my career

the bad:   That I have to move on in my career

the good: We painted the first floor over the last couple of weekends (been dreading this since we moved in)

the bad:   Still have a few doors to complete

the good: My boat is floating

the bad:   That means it's still in the water and the creeks are freezing already

the good: Got the over the range microwave installed 

the bad:   No bad on this (so far) except we still need to get the modified cabinet doors back from the carpenter

Picture 1 is removing the cabinet and range hood.

 

Cabinet disassembled as its being cut down.

The cut down cabinet reassembled.

Vent adapter to adjust the height.

re-installed cabinet and microwave. 

Mid November

So I have kept up the kickboxing and haven't lost a pound.   It is intense and I am progressing skill-wise and I have been enjoying myself (except for the aches and pains). I have been going 3 times a week for 2-3 weeks now and I will continue for the next couple of months.  I did pull a double (Kickbox and regular gym) one day.  I felt great doing that.  This points to the next problem which is cost.  Two expensive gym memberships isnt sustainable.  My idea is to cancel and join a low cost (read no-frills gym) for when I will be doing a weight lifting workout.

Issue #2 is work.  We had layoffs and I was spared, but got the message loud and clear.  This initiated plan 63 which i will go into greater detail as things progress.  Looking out for those coworkers that were affected, I called and old contact at Black and Decker and made an inquiry on their behalf.  Turns out they are highering and may have already contact one of the laid-off folks.

Went to the Bengals @ Ravens game which was a good time.

More to come    

Two new hobbies

Ok as many people know I am a serial hobbiest.  A friend at work has been asking me to try out their gym.  It is a Thai Boxing gym.  I finally went.  I had been slacking on my working out and gained 15 lbs since the spring. I had been going regularly but the intensity enough to make a difference.  Now I have a true hour workout that is intense and I hope to gain a new skill in the process.  It has been hard due to the nature of the workout, lots of aches and pains from using new muscles but actually my cardio has been keeping up pretty well.  We'll see how the weight loss goes but I don't think my body has a choice but to lose doing this.

The second one I have taken steps to start but not actually done it yet and that is reloading.  I got two new rifles this year and ammo is actually still hard to find due to hoarding because of gun control crackdowns causing fear, but that is another subject.  I have purchased the majority of the items I need but I still need a few things.  The first is  a good reference book.  The library doesn't have anything on it which I am surprised or is this part of the conspiracy against gun rights?  I hope not, but it is odd.  I would rely on the old internet, but when it comes to a potential safety issue I think I am going back to the old analogue book for this one.   This hobby isn't about saving money because It probably going to take 1000s of rounds to break even.  It is more about tuning to get the best performance and availability.  Again we'll see how it is goes or I will be typing with one hand or eye in the next month or so...

Blog Mid October

I've been slacking on my blogging

I've been injured then sick thus slacking on my working out

I haven't lifted for a month until today

I had been doing some light cardio biking jogging but then I got a cold

But first I had cut my hand on an oyster knife (obviously) opening an oyster and needed stitches 

I was on antibiotics and once I stopped after 10 days I had a reaction (augmenten) my hands and feet itched but no visible rash.  This lasted a few days and them I got the cold

I went to the AUSA trade show this week.  It was like a Christmas Day for me with all types of my interests represented guns, knives, tools, optics, military hardware of all sorts.  I got free stuff and even Glock playing cards.  Then on top of that I was able to network personally and for the job.  I saw 2 old aquiantences (from black and decker and ASIT).  The only problem was I ran around so much I didn't get to eat.  I have to do these type of things more often.  

 The ravens haven't been commented on because they are doing about how I predicted but they are under performing.  Some in the media are giving them a pass because of their record and Super Bowl.   The Baltimore Allstate are not playing this year instead it's the B team or JV Ravens.  I'm not giving them a pass as they are who they are and have been. The Baltimore Allstars were a fluke that resulted in a Super Bowl and I will take that.  

Late September Update

Another mass shooting happened this month. Crazy guy with a gun. This one had warning signs, police contact, he self reported mental health issues, but no stopping him. I posted about Adam Lanza and my same thinking still applies. Here's a piece that was written about it

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/17/opinion/granderson-gun-control-fail/index.html

This argument the writer presents agrees with mine when it comes to the response to mass shootings. I go past we need to look deeper. No one has the b@lls to address the real issues these shooters have. The reason gun owners are targeted is because its easy to blame the guns its harder to address troubled people capable of violence. There were warning signs but they weren't heeded. I will say this gun control expansion when it comes to mental health issues should be increased. This shooter not only had issues but also committed 2 gun crimes but still was allowed to purchase a gun. That needs to be addressed. None of the gun control laws passed here in MD would have stopped him from buying the gun, so I guess that invalidates my argument. What laws were passed that would have gotten him treatment or sentenced for the crimes he committed which would have prevented this shooting?


On a lighter note I cut my hand shucking oysters and had to visit patient first for a few stitches. I think the same DR. that sewed up my lip awhile back sewed up my hand yesterday. That was fun. My fear is the bill as I may have reached the out of pocket portion of my new health insurance. In an upcoming post I need to write about Obamacare (a name I hate but since I don't know the real name I'm going with it).

Early September

Ok new hobby alert: Paracord weaving. It all started with needing a motorcycle key chain. The old one scratched the bars and tank, so I needed a soft option. Hence the paracord. I had been seeing these paracord survival bracelets many places and then I saw some variations like a key FOB, dog collars and rifle slings. I figured I love tying knots so I would give it a try. I can't stop, I replaced all my keychains and making random pulls. So far I Used 150' of it and I need more.

Fishing first catfish of the year. These were rare in that we were fishing with metal lures. Cats usually come with bait.

Random

September paintball

Just a few shots of the mostly ex-ASIT paintball team

Baltimore All-stars are now back know as the Ravens

If you recall I referred to the Ravens as the Baltimore All-Stars last season due to the fact they could turn into another team when needed as seen by the Super Bowl Victory. This season the Ravens need to prove they deserve that title again, because after that first game this year all I can say is: WTF?

Cabinet project

In the back of my basement there is a nice little corner that us under utilized from a storage perspective. I decided to build a cabinet to mount in that space. Essentially it is a wall cabinet modelled after any kitchen cabinet except bigger. This is 15" wide 20" deep and 75" tall. Why did I build this as oppossed to buying one? Well I couldnt find a suitable off the shelf cabinet that size. If they were that tall they were too wide or not as deep. The other issue is I wanted this cabinet to perserve and protect the contents from water mainly and dust. That is why I wanted real wood that I could finish and a door I could gasket. So I drew up some plans and got out the table saw and proceeded to build a cabinet. The first issue I ran into was how to join the various sides and frame pieces together. I had planned to just nail the pieces edge to edge, but after doing some research I found the Kreg jig system (mentioned last month). I settled on a plywood base and sides and a 1x3 face frame. The door is going to be 1x3 frame with Birch panels and a Birch back panel. Once the rough cuts were made for the cabinet I set about making the door. This was a bit of a challenge since I planned to build a frame and install panels. The first pictures show the issue with that. I cut the frame members for the door then I cut a channel for the panels to pit it. The issue was I cut the channels full length thus not leaving anything to screw the frames together with. My solution was cut shims to fill the channel, then glue them in place and finally sand them to the correct height. After overcoming that issue; I set about building the cabinet up. One key to the Kreg jig is to clamp the joints before screwing them in. Most joints regular clamps work, although I had to buy 36" ones. I ordered the corner clamp/vice you see in the picture holding the base or top in place as it gets screwed in. This was a Kreg product (ordered from Amazon). It worked well for the outside corners. As you can see in the next set of pictures I got it all together. The next step was the hardest which was sanding. I wanted the surface pretty nice to accept the finishing. This took a lot of work, which I question the amount I put into it and my choice in materials. The ply wood portions were the worst and since it was not finish grade took a bunch of effort to make it even close to smooth. I shouldn't say that, close to not splintery if I am honest. Once done, I took it into the garage for finishing. The choice for finishing was tough. As it wasn't intended to be a piece of furniture on display it wouldn't seem critical, but I wanted to protect the wood. There had been a minor dishwasher leak a few years ago and the area where I placed the cabinet got dripped on and I wanted some protection in case another water issue may happen. After some research I settled on a light color stain followed by polyurethane. Must parts took 2 coats of stain to cover well. The poly step I figured I didn't want to go overboard again just enough to protect not make a museum piece. I got the wipe on type. This seem to build up at all, it seemed to just soak in to the wood so I was using way too much. In the end Brush on poly was the way to go. I left the wipe on the interior but I went back and covered all the surfaces with brush on, which went on great (probably because there was so much wipe on under it?). A few lessons were learned during this (some are outlined in the comments in the process tree). The biggest is a random orbit sander, even with 220 grit will tear right through your finish. You have to start and stop the sander in contact with the wood. Setting the sander on it while spinning will not work. Here is the task list for the finishing steps and the pictures in the garage show the various states of the process. Rough sand all pieces 80 grit (I found out this is not needed on finish grade portions ie 1x materials) Light sand outer 180 grit Vacuum Wipe with tack cloth (found out air would work better to remove dust) Make shelves/supports finish Make back Stain  Wait 4-6 hours Stain Poly Fine sand 220 grit between coats (caution is needed here...) 2-3 hours Poly Almost done. Took the cabinet to the basement to install. First I caulked the seems and nailed the back cover in place. The the mounting then commenced. I built a base frame in place to rest the cabinet on (8" off the floor) for mounting. This corner where it's going gives the ability to screw into 2 studs on the right side and 1 stud on the back. I set the cabinet on the frame and used a finish nailer hold it in place for me to drill the mounting holes through the cabinet and into the studs. I then bolted it up using 1/4" lag like bolts. A few more things to do. The door got hinges attached then the door was mounted. The 2 shelves were mounted using wood mounting brackets. Next the latch was put on. It is an outdoor gate latch which had to have it's receiving bracket modified to fit the frame, but it is working well. Last major step was to put on a gasket that ran around the door jam (this is working very well as indicated by the amount of finishing fumes smelled when opened, these had dissipated from the exterior in a week). One more thing the final touch was a motion activated LED light to light up the interior. The final fitting out of the cabinet I am leave out as it is an on going process specific to the contents to be housed there in. All in all this was a very satisfying process. I enjoyed the design and using the Kreg jig to build the cabinet up. The biggest take away is if you are going to finish a project start with quality wood. I spent more than a few weekends on this one, but taking my time and having patience leads to better results every time.  

Finished

August Boating Trip to The Harbor

Took a little Cruise to the Harbor to hit a restaurant for my sister's Birthday.  It was a rare thing that my boat left the dock and fishing wasn't involved.  The cruise took about how long I expected about an hour and it was a weekend so we had to slow down in the no wake zones.    

Had this nice sunset as we came back in to Middle River:

Life Below Zero

My new favorite show.  A little girl just said:
"We're going to net rabbits and then club them"
with a smile on her face...

Now I'm no PETA member but that seems a bit cruel.  Another thing I don't like is trapping, that the one guy does.  It seems a bit cruel too.  I wouldn't mind if that dude had an accident with a trap, just so he would stop.

Other than those two issues; seeing the people being self reliant and living somewhat off the land is pretty cool.  I would like to visit Alaska one day to experience a taste of that life.

Update:
The kid's mom just said:
"Hit them as many times as you can until their dead.  O.K. princess?"

I'm glad we are here and they are in Alaska...

DIY Projects

The end of July/beginning of August found me doing a few projects.  First I was helping a friend finish his bathroom.  The picture below is studding out from the wall.  Then I hung drywall and applied a tape coat. This was fun as I got to use my powder actuated nail driver and nail gun.

The second project is building a long wall cabinet in my shop area.  It is going to be 15" wide by 20" deep and 74" tall.  I looked for something off-the-shelf, but the narrowest cabinets I found weren't wide or tall enough.  My design was going to be nailed together until I found reference to a Kreg Jig http://www.kregtool.com/pocket-hole-jigs-prodlist.html. They had a video of how to build a wall mount cabinet that was good for reference even without the Kreg jig.  That project video actual sold me and to my surprise my Home Depot had it in stock.  I bought it and a bunch of wood. So off I went cutting the wood and planning the build.  Stay tuned for pictures.        

Evening Beach Stroll

This weekend I went to spend sometime with my parents on their vacation to Ocean City .  Thursday night we went for a walk as the sun was setting and saw this beautiful sky.  This orange glow behind the clouds was odd in that the view was to the east and the sun was setting on the other side of the sky. Either direction it made for a nice scene.

 

A Childhood mystery solved

So when I was young 7 or 8, my grandfather let my family borrow a few fishing rods for use on vacation.  The day we went to get them from their house, he rigged a weight up to a line and showed us how to cast in the backyard.  When he was done he took the two piece rods apart.  Then something happened that stuck with me to this day.  He took his finger and wiped it against his nose and then wiped the oil onto the smaller rod connection.
  

 For years this puzzled me and struck me as odd. The truth is I always followed his example and did it more out of respect for the memory than for the practical utility of the action.  That is until I read this article that talks about the unique properties of Nasal Sebum (my former pop-pop nose oil).  



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_sebum

Instead of posting a blog about it: I did this too: Installing A Vinyl Siding J-Block For An Outdoor Electrical Outlet

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/exterior/siding/vinyl/accessories/j_block_01/outlet_box.htm


Sent from my iPad

Ribs

These are the second set of smoked ribs I did this summer. These were dry rubbed the night before then smoked for 2-3 hours over cherry and mesquite.  Then wrapped an put back in the smoker for 1 hour.  Last they were unwrapped and baked in the oven for an hour or until they reached 175 meat temp.  The classic smoker is 3-2-1 but these baby back ribs don't need as long  in fact they would be dried out if smoked too long. 

Fishing trip

This week (the week of July 8th) I went fishing.  This week I was off and planned to fish a bunch; instead I went once due to weather forecasts and not being able to get up some days.  It was good day to be out there.  I caught loads of fish including this 12 inch rock and many perch.  The second picture shows a perch I caught on a bloodworm fly I made. There is something satisfying about catching fish on a lure you made.  Although just before this one, I caught a perch on the hook below this one that wasn't baited at all.  That day I did catch a rock on another fly that I made, but that teaser fly has worked before.  I ended up with dinner for a few days in the form of the perch you see in the last picture.  The largest was 11", not bad. I gave arepreive to the smallest one which I put in the pond behind my house.  I guess I am trying to establish a perch source closer to home or I just fed the snakes, turtles and birds that are in that pond.       

I'm on a plane!

This was coming into Baltimore from St. Louis somewhere over Ohio.  

 

 

I knew the position from Southwests WiFi service.  For free you can track the flight and watch selected Direct TV shows.  If you want to browse the internet it is $8.  Looking straight down I could see a fireworks display which was pretty cool, but due to the angle I couldn't get any pictures. 

Recessed lights redone

Here is a quick project post of redoing my recessed lights.  I had originally installed these small halogen lights into accent my bar area.  There was a problem with the distance that the bulbs required to go into the fixture.  These halogen lights were a press connection to the fixture  and due to the drywall, when it was installed, being uneven with the fixture the one bulb would be intermittent.  This was because the fixtures were put in place before the drywall was mounted and they were not perfectly aligned or parallel.  I removed the old fixture seen in the first picture.  I was worried that the wires wouldn't be long enough to be reused, because I remember I had a time getting the fixtures wired into begin with.  The original fixture boxes were very small.  The second picture shows the wires are long enough to work with. the third and fourth pictures show the new 4" Halo recessed lights going in.  I took a picture from the one hole by sticking my phone into the hole for the second light to see what the wires were doing in the ceiling.  I was concerned that the wires would be stretched or pinched, because the box was offset so far from the light housing.  As you can see there is some slack.  I had a time getting the lights specifically the installation clips to lock in place (see the blog on that whole issue).  Once in they look pretty good (last picture).          

Halo recessed lighting installation clips: the secret to mounting them

So once again I am contributing the body of knowledge of the internets.  If you have a Halo Recessed Lighting fixture and cannot got the clips to hold it to in the ceiling here is the secret.  

I got the lights in to the (1/2 inch) ceiling and pushed up on the clips.  They would not lock into place.  I would push the bottom of the clip and one would hold, but as soon as I went to push on the next one it would slip out of place.    I did a search online and saw there were references to this same problem.  At first I thought my ceiling was the wrong thickness,  but a check of the datasheet showed it was within the range it should work.  One post mentioned pre-flexing the clips.  I tried this spreading them out from the fixture.  This made the situation worse (wouldn't hold at all).  I then flexed them down toward the housing.  This actually got one of the 4 to lock in place, but this wasn't the solution (the other 3 didn't hold).  Finally, I noticed with my repeated attempts at locking the clips in had worn the foam off of the surface of the clip (see the gray foam in the pictures below) and there was the secret. In the second photo you see a raised rectangular bump on the face of the clip.  This was hidden by the foam. I placed a screw driver on this bump and pushed up.  This push may have been more of a whack with the end of another driver, but this did the trick.  Now I reread the documentation and there is no mention of this bump as the place to push this clip into place, which I don't understand why it isn't.  Maybe this is an easier way to do it.  The bump did it for me. So there is no need to flex the clips.  Just push the fixture into place with the clips folded inside the housing.  Once it is against the ceiling in place place screw driver on the "bump" and push (or it they are stubborn whack the end of the driver) the clips up, locking them in.       

The screw driver pushing up on the bump:

This "bump" exposed under the foam:

 

The finished product:

Once again...

A little later in the summer this year but the Ice Luge was brought out again.  This year I didn't have to remake the holder; although, I think it should be 2 inches wider to handle the potential in balances.  I wasn't going to bring it, but the host said people are counting on me to bring it, so I did:   

First fish and Verizon fios app is awesome

So it wasn't a monster in fact it looked a lot like the last fish I caught in 2012, but it was the first fish of 2013.  I need to start getting up earlier so i can fish a bit more this year.  I set my daily alarm for 5:30 so I can condition myself but it isn't working real well. 

 

 OK so I finally got my Verizon ID set up after 5 years and downloaded their app.  I really did it to be lazy because I didn't want to get up and change the station and I knew there was a remote function built into the app.  See I was on one end of the sofa with my iPad and the remote was on the other end.  How lazy is that? There is a Samsung app too, but they updated it and made it nonfunctional which is the craziest thing in the world BTW.  Anyway this app  not only has a remote function, but also you can watch live TV on your iPad and set your DVR.  I don't know if you can watch your DVR recordings or if it works over the internet (versus local wifi only).  It works great and I love it.  It actually might save me a significant amount of money by allowing TV watching on our first floor where we don't have a TV at this time. The funny thing is we got another TV last week for the office on a whim and due to a great COSTCO price on Samsung LEDs.       

Finished Boat Switch Panel

 


I don't know if this was published, but here is my finished boat switch panel I did this spring.  

Fresh jerk seasoning

Here is a quick recipe I make of a wonderful seasoning.  It can be very hot depending on how many and what kind of peppers you use.  I smoked some chicken breasts, but it can be used on fish and pork too.