Shop Update- bookcase

I posted this before *here* and promised a photo of the finished shelves once painted and trimmed out. Here it is. I have a hidden magnetic latch so once I place the magnet hidden in a book or object in the right place the door aut0-magicly pops open with a satisfying *click* reveling the closet behind.

Lent is Back

And that means no more drinking for me... until Easter that is.

This year for a little twist Barb is giving it up as well.

I have been doing this for years, and it seems to me that it gets more difficult every year.

Swanky Ann Arbor

The surrounding area is a buzz with Swank sightings as Hillary Swank is in town to film a movie. She has been seen by just about everyone but me. Honestly it does not thrill me that much but its fun to see some excitement in the air this time of year when spring still lies just out of reach.

I just found out my friends company is doing security for the movie. Not really a big surprise they are the best at that sort of thing and handle celeb security for many big stars all over. I just hope it turns out to be a good movie with some nice shots of the city mixed in.

Cool Gear- Beardhead (hat)

Weather you are just walking your dog, or pulling your vehicle from the lake, when you live in the cold you need a good hat.

That is where the Beard Hat steps in.

Complete with interchangeable mustaches. NOT KIDDING.

*click here*

Genuis

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. -- An SUV became stuck on Cass Lake after it was used to try and retrieve a snowmobile that had fallen through the ice early Sunday morning, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office said.

How did that work? Here is the possible conversation.

Stupid one: Hey Billy Bob.

Stupid two: Yeah?

1:My Snow machine just went through the ice. Come bring the truck and pull it out.

2:I aint driven out there.

1: Dont worry, it will be ok we just wont drive it out as far.

2: Oh, ok that makes sense.

Today at the park

These icicles just above the surface of the water made these little bell shapes that I found interesting.

This is a good picture to click on to see better.

Handy Life Lessons Learned this Week:

Couple quick things I thought I would pass on, just a couple of helpful hints for the end of the week re-cap:

Lesson one:

I don’t care how cool you are; don’t come into your Insurance agent’s office reeking of Pot. You might roll like snoop dog, but you are entering a financial contract at least APPEAR to be responsible for a minute.

Lesson two:

If you scream at the top of your lungs at us, we will hang up on you. Lets face is we can hear the crazy at a whisper level, yelling just make you more annoying. You can catch more flies with honey, so dial back the psycho will ya?

Lesson three:

No matter how much you know… the IT guy knows more. Yes I turned it on and off. Yes the cord is plugged in. No I am not an idiot. You must have me confused with the owner of lesson two.

Lesson four:

You can keep asking me the same question over and over, but I am not changing my answer. No I can not change the rules just because you are annoying. Ok now you are yelling. *click*.

Final Lesson:

The COP is always right. Except when he is wrong. I am sure he told you that ticket would not affect your insurance. After all he must know he has a gun. A ticket is a ticket, I don’t tell you when it’s ok to rob a bank do I? That’s because its not.

I just HAD to bitch about the weather didn't I

Cool Gear: Shoe Phone

I.Must. Have.This.Phone.

Or one like it.

This guy was so fed up with his inability to find a shoe-phone a-la-get smart that he fricken made this own. Sounds like something I would do honestly.

I know there is a cone of silence joke in here somewhere I just could not get it out of my brain this morning.

Check out the details *here*

Special Hell

We live in a special part of hell where winter hangs on with an icy grip and rain falls on the verge of snow just to prove a point.

Even though 9 out of 10 drops were rain, a dirty gray snow still hangs on in the corners like unwanted vermin hiding in the shadows.

And the cold. It may be raining but it’s the kind of rain that you feel like it should be snow because that icy chill you feel is not because its almost tax day, it just feels cold enough that it should be snowing.

I am very very very tired of the cold and cant wait until its so hot we can complain about that instead.

Continental Plane crash- a Tragedy

Ok I know that every body is talking about the Continental Connection commuter plane that crashed near Buffalo, N.Y.

Was the weather a factor, was it in a roll, did the pilot have on auto pilot?

While this was a tragedy, this sounds like a text book icing situation. The news media barely understands how this works so let me tell you. I am a pilot, but of course keep in mind that I have no access yet to the facts in this case but:

Consider that to create lift (and therefore flight) you must have SMOOTH airflow over a wing (see picture) producing lower pressure above the wing making the wing quite literally rise. Further consider all the factors involved in flying an aluminum aircraft through a swirling gas (air) that has different temperatures at different levels at different times. Variables like airspeed outside air temp, direction of relative wind, rate of decent , moisture content of the air, temp/dew point spread … if you mind does not explode you can easily see how ice could build up… reducing the ability to produce lift , and adding weight although the weight was likely not as big a factor.

While this plane likely had de-icing boots to break ice off the leading edge and other de-icing measures it is possible to overwhelm these systems.

Now consider that if ice built up slightly quicker on he left wing first. The air would start to swirl over the wing not just smoothly go over the surface, that wing would fall causing the aircraft to roll… simply applying a correction might easily have been an overcorrection as the other wing was also on the verge of stalling. This would make a bad situation worse. They literally may have fallen like a rock once both wings had enough ice to significantly disrupt the airflow.

Why did other aircraft have little or no problem with the same airport the same morning? Sadly a change in altitude up or down a couple of hundred feet could have made the difference or maybe they descended slower through the cloud deck, remained in the clouds longer or a 100 other factors that just came together at the same time to make this a bad situation.

I have only encountered ice once or twice, and it scares the begisies out of me. I have neither the training or the equipment to fly into “known icing” situations like these professionals did. I doubt they did anything “wrong” and it is unlikely that these particular set of circumstances would all come together and overwhelm the deicing system in the way it appears to have. Again, I have no access to the facts but this is my two cents.

Snow!

Sure it seems silly to be excited by a little bit of snow but the white stuff did not really dampen Tanners excitement as she raced around looking for a toy she could smell but not see under the new blanket of precipitation.

They are calling for 1-3 inches but I would say we have that already and its snowing plenty hard right now as I write this.

Happy Valentines Day

Friday the 13th

My Chumby just reminded me its Friday the 13th.

Watch out everyone.

How to Be Annoying

Recent events had me thinking about an(some) annoying person(s) I ran into recently.Keep in mind I fully realize I can be annoying, and from that point of view I can breach this subject. If you ever wanted to up your annoying level ( and you don't look good in a hat ;) this article is for you.

Thanks Wikihow

Have you ever wanted to annoy someone so bad that they wanted to tear their hair out? This article should help you!

1. Use potty humor. Announce to them that you have to go to the bathroom, and that you think that they should go too, as they have been holding it in for quite a while. When they do go to the bathroom, call to them things like: "Are you doing OK in there?" and if there are other people in the bathroom proudly announce to them: "My friend is in there," pointing at the bathroom stall. When you are finished in the bathroom, come out with a sigh of relief and be sure to tell them all about your time in the bathroom. (Even if they would rather you didn't.)

2. Sing along to everything. If they are listening to their iPod, help yourself to one of their headphones and start singing along to the song (if you're tone deaf this works really well). Remember, you don't have to even know the words to the song, just make them up as you go along–the dumber your lyrics the better! Also, if you are watching TV, sing along with all of the commercial jingles.

3. Hug random people. Just randomly run up to people and give them a hug. Tell them that you are so glad to see them and that they are your best friend ever. Then, right in front of them, do the same thing to some other person.

4. Ask private questions. You can either ask a ton of these to one person, or spread it around. If you are going to do this to any random person, do things like ask a man if he has ever had an abortion or is pregnant, or ask a 13 year old if they have ever been to rehab, had a drug intervention, or if they are wasted/drunk.

5. Laugh for no reason. OK, picture this: Complete silence, possibly a classroom, in church, or something like that. How annoying do you think it would be if you just randomly burst out laughing? (Spitting a little isn't a bad thing either.) Also, point and laugh at people without explaining yourself, just keep pointing at them and laughing uncontrollably. If you keep laughing at the same person, it will keep getting more and more annoying. It definitely helps if you have a really annoying laugh.

6. Make up inside jokes. Not the kind you share with a few of your friends, just the kind that you don't share with anyone, just yourself. For instance, just yell out the word "Peanut Butter" and start laughing and if someone asks you why that's funny, just tell them all it's an inside joke.

7. Make animal sounds. Sneak up behind someone and go "baaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!", to some people, this will give them goosebumps. Also, when you are getting yelled at or scolded, just make a questioning "baaahh?" or "rrribbitt?" works too.

8. Make prank phone calls. If you are off from school at some abnormal time and people you know are in school, call them on their cell phones in the middle of class! Call random numbers in the phone book and ask them if they would like to share a baloney sandwich, or the old refrigerator running call is probably the most annoying in the book! Feel free to use it all the time! Better yet, call one place and hang up. They will be driven insane by the non-stop ringing.

9. Use IM acronyms. Speak in all acronyms. Instead of actually laughing just say "LOL!" Instead of acting surprised, just say OMG in a totally unexcited tone.

10. Be sarcastic about everything, to the point that people have absolutely no idea what you are even trying to say

The Future of Prosthetics

One thing we can tell for sure… according to this the future will be sexy.

Seriously though, as cool at this concept might be, I think most people will still like to keep their OEM parts.

Thanks the *gizmodo* for this one.

Ugh- Back to work

Its always nice to be home...

and work awaits.

Were out.

With more rain falling we leave. Stay classy San Diego.

Ok it's nice here

After all, the weather is great.

With out a hitch!

So to speak, that is.

Wedding day

Groom is nervous but doing well rain still threatning.

The Weather

The weather here like many things today has been full of suprises.

Paul & Lori's beach wedding

With the weather threating a beach wedding Tomorow is looking
chalenging.

So Cal

Almost unheard of rain showers arrived along with us and with very
little sleep I was up early with my Michigan timed brain.

Gonna fly a jet plane.

Going back to Cali....

Just finished packing...

Waiting around to leave, cleaned off some photos from the old camera and fired this quick photo.

Tonight, we will be sleeping in CA.

Speaking of Flying

I was out this morning with Tanner and the mercury was well south of freezing, and a spotted an eastern bluebird (not this actual one) and some other types hanging around in the tree in the front yard.

It never ceases to amaze me that living critters can survive out side when its this cold.

I have seen a several bluebirds in the woods with tanner eating some kind of red winter berry that seem to be somehow still around.

Why are they here when its so bloody cold? And by them I mean me. And by me I mean us.

This weekend we will be in southern California, cant say I will miss this cold snap.

This picture was taken by *birdwatchersdigest*

High and Fast

Superbowl morning I got up and knocked the dust off the plane that has
sat largely in touched this winter.
The sun was a welcome co- pilot and warmed me as it streamed in the
windshield here on my downwind to base turn for runway 24 at Ann Arbor.

I wish I could describe the feeling of bringing that sleek hunk of
aluminum to a gental stop but I have no words.