We Don't Do Windows

The Mystery of the Speckled Hen

2011-01-01T23:38:00.003-05:00

The Mystery of the Speckled Hen, a summer vacation story from the 2010

Part 1: In the Middle

"Dead zone.... nothing but a giant dead zone" I mumbled under my breath as my friend Tom hurled us at a mile a minute towards our destination, a small park in a small town plopped almost in the middle of nowhere. Certainly a wireless dead zone. Neither of us had bothered to preload our GPS units with the coordinates of our destination. Tom forgot to press save, I relied too much on technology. In the dead zone, there was no way were getting the coordinates over the air. We were going to have to rely on Tom's memory and geo-senses, having found dozens of geocaches like this in the past.

Having located this particular cache before, Tom recognized the park but not GZ, ground zero, the holy grail of any cache hunt. I eyed up the park gazebo, the usual suspect for these little park caches. There would be no such luck as neither the construction or the landscaping gave any cues. I wandered about with the Pre held high in the air desperately looking for signal while Tom wandered about with his GPS. No signal, no coordinates, not even a description of what we were looking for. Oh to have had pencil and paper and have written this all down when we were back in the so-called civilized world of too much technology.

A couple of teenagers and the park groundskeeper were about. I wandered over to a bench surrounding a tree thinking it was a likely cache hiding spot, having given up on 21st century technology in lieu of common sense. Imagine that. Not seeing any metal on the wooden bench, I wandered over to some nearby electrical equipment -- a likely place for any magnetic key holder to be hidden, the most likely cache type to be located in a park hide like this.

By now we attracted the attention of the groundskeeper who was looking for a break from the back and forth motions of his grass cutting. "You guys geocachers?", he shouted from atop his industrial mower. Busted. "You were a lot warmer over by that tree than over there" he smiled as he motioned towards the electrical boxes. Busted. At least now though I stood a chance of finding the cache, a high tech treasure hunt using low tech knowledge and a friendly municipal employee.

With the log signed and a new smiley on the map Tom and I set off for a local micro-brewery. Eschewing technology for an old-fashioned map we did our best to either get further lost or towards our destination, trying to correlate squiggles on the map to what road we were on, roads with no names and no proper signage, no sense of north or south. Why bother? The locals knew where they were. After a few false leads around the town square we were just about on the correct road. I was on the lookout for the highway signs. That's when I spotted it, a little square blue and white sign with a picture of a chicken on it, with the works 'The Speckled Hen' and an arrow imploring us to go in that direction.

Part 2: In the Beginning

"Chick-CAAAAAAAAAN" the kids shouted from the cramped back seat of my little blue coupe, putting an extra emphasis and drawing out the second syllable, "Chick-CAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!" "Don't worry, daddy!", they shouted in unison, "every time we see the sign we'll shout out Chick-CAAAAAAAANN!!!! and you'll know to make a turn!!". It was mid-August, 2006, and the kids and I were on vacation while my wife remained home as she unhappily lacked the vacation time to join us. She was furious and let me know at every turn. Going out on an adventure, even if it was just for dinner, was almost a means to an escape as we headed out of cell phone coverage. Being alone with the kids for a week I thought it would be a treat to try out 'all you can eat pasta night' at a restaurant that advertised heavily in the free newspaper. My only GPS was a primitive hand-held unit that lacked any mapping function other than to let us know we hadn't yet driven off a main road. I called ahead to get directions, was told 'it was complicated', and to just look for the blue signs guiding the way. Relying on paper maps in these pre-dashboard navigation GPS days I had not much else to go on to span the 14 or so miles we needed to cover until we got close to those blue signs I was beginning to wish I never mentioned.

Paper maps and two over-enthused children shouting "Chick-CAAAAAAAAN!!!" and how they were going to guide me to our destination. Paper maps, road signs, and dead reckoning. And kids in the back seat shouting "Chick-CAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!" every time they were going to see the blue and white road signs with the picture of a chicken and an arrow. My 'back seat GPS units'. "Chick-CAAAAAAAAAN!!!" the kids again shouted, reminding me over and over that whenever they see a sign they'll be SURE to let me know. We passed at least 3 Speckled Hen signs, none of which they saw, all the while reminding me of their plans to diminish whatever hearing I had left by shouting "Chick-CAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!". They never once did either see ANY sign or call out a proper direction change. But by now had my ears ringing with the sound of "Chick-CAAAAAAN!!".

Tossing the maps aside and relying on the blue and white signs, back seat GPS notwithstanding, we managed to get onto a narrow and winding dirt road more akin to Children of the Corn than what I thought to be a popular place based on its heavy advertising.Certainly there would be a large crowd on all you can eat night. We pulled up alongside an old renovated farmhouse with a giant sign with a picture of a chicken on it, located next to a field with some old trucks and smokey and smelly trash fire burning. "Chick-CAAAAAAAAAAAAN" the back seat finally clucked properly, this time on target but too late to be useful. If I had relied on them we'd probably have been in Canada by now, still clucking. We had arrived at the pinnacle of our journey, something we were talking about all week, The Speckled Hen and its all you can eat pasta night. Counting the three derelict trucks, there were 4 vehicles there, including us, in the middle of God's country, at a small renovated farm house calling itself The Speckled Hen, along with a smokey stinky fire and a farm yard full of animals.

Inside I could hear spaghetti sauce bubbling on a stove and a local radio station softly playing. I felt more like I was inside someones house than an actual working restaurant. We sat down at a table overlooking the trash fire, got some menus, and found out how complicated it was going to be to order all you can eat pasta. We chatted, our food came, and we enjoyed the atmosphere of dad and two kids enjoying a special time together. We had to. The food was... ...OK. Not the best experience, not the worst, certainly the sauce was just not to my liking. After the anticipation, the build-up, the excited trip, the all you can eat part was simply anti-climatic.

Post-dinner we were invited to go outside and see the animals, something which my son and daughter enjoyed more than the meal. My son took to the goats, petting a more tame one, even bestowing upon it a named he held in reverence, 'Bitsy Thomas', a name he modelled after Thomas the Tank Engine. My daughter was more into the chickens, running back to the kitchen to obtain stale bread to feed to the fowl. We stayed for what seemed like hours, a magic time in a magic place that made me forget that I probably just ate what I considered to be the worst spaghetti sauce of my life. Two bowls of it at that.

The evening was soon sadly over. Somehow we made it using pencil, navigating there by map and pencil and paper and road signs. Road signs they somehow never saw while excitedly telling me how they would inform me of their presence. The 'back seat GPS' was giving about as useful directions, it would turn out, as my main GPS unit would years later on a return trip. Full and tired we navigated back by memory, nobody interested in the slightest peep of "chicken..." Instead we all simply chatted about the future of Bitsy Thomas and the hens in the barnyard and that we'll visit again next year. A visit that never happened later that year. Or the next. Or the next.....

Part 3: The End

Summer 2010 marked when we'd finally make a return visit to the Speckled Hen. As far as summers go it was not the best. The weather was not cooperative combined with generous amounts of life happening. On a sunny Wednesday afternoon we made a late start for a day's worth of activities that was to be capped off with dinner at the Hen.

The first mistake was trusting the Mio GPS because the damned thing would have us drive off a cliff if it had calculated doing so would save us .07 seconds off the trip. As we drove deeper into God's country it soon had us driving off paved roads and anything resembling civilization and on dusty gravel roads, with no buildings or power poles visible anywhere. I got the feeling this wasn't going to end good. Sure enough it was soon announcing we had arrived at our destination, the middle of nowhere, and likely with no human beings around for miles. We continued on our way hoping to end up SOMEPLACE. The collection of back roads took us to nowhere in particular although we did stumble back upon human civilization, but only after we encountered a lone cow leisurely walking along the road. Not coming to the Speckled Hen we backtracked, going past the point we turned onto the one road, thinking maybe the GPS meant RIGHT instead of LEFT when it was busy barking out its orders. Our hunch proved correct and we soon came upon a familiar looking building that had a big sign, YES WE ARE OPEN. Everybody missed the smaller FOR SALE sign, the unkempt bushes, the weeds, and the wreck of a barn yard.

As we pulled into what was left of the parking area the look and feel was all wrong. It was closed, and a look inside the windows revealed an empty shell, a sad reminder of what once was but is now no more.

The Speckled Hen was gone.

We returned the way we came, looking for another place to eat. The kids openly wondered about their animal friends, former residents of the now overgrown barnyard which lay a silent testimonial to that magic evening of a few years earlier.

Later on I turned to 21st century technology to learn more. The Hen's web site was useless, still listing a menu, giving an e-mail address, and some old reviews, a ghost ship luring us to come visit its apparitions of summers past. Frustrated by limitations of the present I went to the past, using 19th century technology, the telephone, to find out what was going on. I dialed the number but it turns out it was disconnected.

I found the property listing on an on-line real estate site, offering us the Hen for a mere $65,000. With its matter of fact coldness the web page offered us no clues to the mystery, just square footage, number of bathrooms, and a few other facts and figures. The remains of the Hen were reduced to just numbers someone could crunch and plug into a spreadsheet, its soul stripped away and tossed upon the winds.

I wonder if we'll every know whatever happened to The Speckled Hen.

OK, here we go again...

2011-01-01T10:49:00.001-05:00

We Don't Do Windows once again lay dormant for over a year. Let's see if I can jump start the beast again!

Blogging regularly is a lot harder than it looks, so maybe regular random musings will get me in the habit. There's lots of stories to tell in a forum less limiting than Facebook status updates.

So let's see what 2011 brings.

Cheers!

All I want for Christmas is... or I Wish My Kitchen Appliances Would Stop Turning On Me

2009-12-26T10:45:00.005-05:00

So picture this scenario: it is Christmas Eve 2008 and after a long day of preparing, snacking, and celebrating, the main course for dinner is just about ready. All the hungry friends and relations are at the table, and 5 minutes before the pasta finishes boiling the stove emits a strange series of loud bongs and its display is flashing some strange alien language.

Bong? What the hell is bonging?

Are the shrimp calling the mother ship asking for an emergency beam-out? Have the squid stormed the fortress and the revolution is about to begin? Is the pasta about to rise from the pot and seek its revenge, tangling all of its in its sticky tentacles as it slowly digests us over the course of dozen years?

Or is the most likely scenario that the range has taken this very moment in time, a table full of hungry holiday revelers, dinner minutes from being either consumed or ruined, to decide that it no longer wants to exist on this earthly plane?

A check of the owners manual verifies the worst. The language in the troubleshooting guide was just a polite way of saying "Ha ha sucker! Are you ever screwed!"

At least (at least, he says) it was 'only' the oven that took itself off-line, something about the appliance electronics equivalent of a dysfunctional family Christmas, with one electronic controller refusing to talk to another over something that may or may not have happened several decades ago but so scarring and jarring we'll take this argument to our graves. Or maybe something just short-circuited.

We managed to finish cooking with one finger (guess which) on the reset button to silence the cooktop's incandescent urgency and loud bobs of pain. The camp stove was quickly set up as a backup, and the meal continued unabated. But for the next week we have a stove up on blocks, the redneck kitchen equivalent of a dead truck on blocks in the front yard, as I set out to repair its faulty electronics. At least I got off cheap and knock wood it has been working fine ever since.

Fast forward to 2009, Christmas week. Family in town for an early Christmas dinner. Smoked turkey breast, a 6 pounder smoked in a tad under 6 hours. It came out beautiful, moist, and very delicious. Good food, good wine, family, stories, celebrations. We're all tired at the end of the evening. Good thing we have a dishwasher to help with the cleanup.

Or do we? The damned dishes were cleaner when we put them in the beast than when we took them out. The noises it made sounded like Satan himself was cleaning the china.

Yup, this year I now have a dishwasher up on blocks, awaiting repair.

I wonder if I should shoot the refrigerator now or wait until next Christmas?

Awake the Sleeping Giant

2009-12-26T10:27:00.002-05:00

After a almost a year of inactivity I decided it was time to make a decision to either retire or recommit We Don't Do Windows. I more or less started micro-blogging on Facebook but looking back it's just not the same thing.

So after its 11 month slumber, We Don't Do Windows is back, at least for the time being.

Enjoy!

My Review of Masterbuilt Master 10.5-Quart 7-In-1 Smoker and Grill

2009-01-27T09:24:00.001-05:00

Originally submitted at Gander Mountain

Enjoy maximum versatility in outdoor cooking with the Master 7-in-1 Smoker and Grill. This camp cooker can be used for propane smoking and grilling, charcoal smoking and grilling, as a deep fryer, and for boiling and steaming. The smoker features a durable solid-steel 19" stand, cast-iron burn...

A very nice entry level smoker

By nucci6 from State College, PA on 1/27/2009

Pros: Attractive Design, Easy To Assemble

Cons: No ignitor on this model

Best Uses: Outdoors

I Am A: Family Older Kids

A friend put me on to the art of smoking meat. After a bit of a search I found this to be a well-priced entry model to try my hand at smoking, plus have the benefits of being able to BBQ and fry.

This is an entry model so the propane burner is smaller than most but for smoking this is a good thing as it makes it easier to maintain the lower temperatures required for smoking. This model also does not come with an ignitor so you need a long lighter or fireplace matches to light the burner.

The access door for adding wood to the smoker bowl is a bit small and I am not sure how to add water to the water bowl without lifting the smoker body, which causes all the heat to get lost. Keep long tongs handy for adding wood.

Assembly was not difficult and all the washers and bolts are handily marked to remove any guesswork which part is needed where

(legalese)

Dante's Inferno and Verizon's 9 Circles of Customer Service Hell

2009-01-17T15:13:00.006-05:00

The other day as I cast a lazy eye towards the calendar I realized the due date for my Verizon bill was fast approaching. I dutifully logged onto my account, and was greeting with the text "The biling information could not be obtained for this BTN. Please try again later." OK, what's a BTN? (Billed telephone number, but it took a little more investigating to find that out.) So much for a clear and concise error message with information on how to act on it. Welcome to Circle 1, sloppy programming.

No matter, as I had plenty of time before the bill was due. Maybe.

So later in the day I again try, only to be greeted by this same BTN message. I try a different computer and even a different browser. Same message. Tried again an hour later. Same message. Welcome to Circle number 2, a problem that does not get resolved in a timely manner.

At this point it is getting late in the day, and I want to get this bill paid before it is too late. After all, I did switch to a non-paper billing for convenience, right? Right? So I whip out the cell phone and dial *611 for customer service. After navigating the voice menu (and remember to please listen carefully, as our menu options *have* changed) I get thru to a cheerful customer service agent. A little too cheerful. What's VZ putting in the company water cooler? Maybe the same stuff Rankin-Bass was putting in theirs back when they came up with their holdiday specials. But I digress. Funny how fast you get through the queue when you hit the option that says "I want to give you money." Often so fast it can suck the dust out from under your pant legs. No matter, I appreciated the friendly demeanor of the person I was willingly going to shell out a few sawbucks to.

The friendly voice on the other end of the ether proceeds to cheerfully explain that since I am on One Bill he cannot take my money, and that I need to call this other number and explain the problem all over again to them. I suppose he could have done that before I spent a few minutes explaining the problem. He at least offers to transfer the call so I am still not being charged for air time. Nonetheless we are in Circle 3, the 'sorry I can't help you here' stage. "Is there anything else that I can do for you today?" Yeah, let me pay my bill.

After a short wait I am now talking to another very friendly agent who lets me explain the situation for a second time. The productive parts of my life are getting slowly robbed from me as I go thru the explanation in full again. Can't you read the typed notes from the last CSR? All the while in the background I am logging on and off the VZ web site to see if I can escape the vortex I am being hopelessly pulled in to. This CSR explains he can take my payment but that there is a $3.50 service charge he does not have the authority to waive. Yep, Circle 4, 'we can help you here but it'll cost you'. At least he was able to explain in a way that made sense how they are held hostage by their third party processing firm but this is stil rotten eggs. However he does say that I may pay my bill at any VZ store to avoid the fee. CSR points for attempting to save me money.

I take him up on that option since I am cheap and $3.50 these days is at least a Creamery ice cream cone, and I kind of do resent getting nickle and dimed to death. Before we terminate the call the agent offers to transfer me to VZ's e-bill department to look into the BTN error message. I am assured the wait won't be too long and that my call is still airtime free, but given the events of the day I wouldn't be surprised if the next bill (if I can ever read it) might show otherwise. After a few minutes of hold music (music to calm the savage beast?) my agent breaks back in and apologizes for the delay. He bemused that the wait should not have been more than a few minutes, and that I am welcome to stay on the line, air time free but robbing more precious free moments from my life. He gives me a tool free number to call instead of waiting and in the interest of saving my phone battery for a call that might be more meaningful than listening to muzak. So far we've successfully only grazed Circle 5 (let me connect you to another departmnt who might either help you or pass you on to someone else, if only they will pick up the phone), but my bill still is not paid, the web site is still busted, and what's left of my patience getting thinner than my receding hair line. Unable to resist the gravitational pull, or more likely like a gawker at a train wreck, I am eventually sucked in.

I hang on on hold a few more minutes before ditching the call and to try again from the land line, saving the phone battery so I could do more productive things with it like play solitaire or doodle on the note pad. The hold music isn't doing its job and attempts in the background to get my billing information still haven't produced any results. Circle 6 and descending faster than an unpowered Boeing 767 over Canada, the 'you are in this so deep may as well keep going' phase.

By this point I have essentially forgotten that I have the speakerphone on hold and have moved on to other more important things. I glance up at the phone display to see the hold time is now almost an hour. Suddenly the tiny speaker jumps to life with the voice of a customer service agent who really wanted to be somewhere else than on that call at the moment. She collects some basic information and then the whopper comes when she insists on some 3 digit account code that apparently appears on my paper bill, if only I still received paper copies. Circle 7, we need the very information you can't get . She tells me I can look it up on-line. I try to explain that is the entire purpose of this call, because the web site can not and will not display my billing information. Apparently Circle 7 includes some lecture on security features but she fails to comprehend I cannot produce what she is looking for, and oh, by the way, again this is the entire purpose of the phone call.

Circle 8 (we're going to keep dancing around and around until you are blue in the face, die, or just give up) is with exasperation in her voice as we move on to alternate security questions such as "How much did you pay last month" or "How much is your bill for this month". "What part of I can't get to my billing information do you not understand", I want to shout, again explaining how we're caught in a circular trap, because said information once again is being held hostage on the very web site I am trying to report a difficulty with. Trying to be the only sane person on this ship of fools I navigate a series of somewhat meaningless links on my account page ("We truley are sorry but no account information on this BTN is available, and will not be until the cows come home, so just give it up already") until finally I stumble across an obscure link that actually DOES display my current balance. This information is either pulled from some other database table or I just won the VZ CSR lottery.

I at least can give this information to the CSR who can now proceed to process my request. Yeah, I think, the problem will get fixed and I an pay my bill on-line and save a trip to the VZ store, where at this point I wouldn't be surprised if they can't get my BTN as well. All hope is deflated when I am told I should hear back from them within 10 days. 10 days!!! That's speedy service and we just have to have descended to the frozen hell of Circle 9, the we'll get to it when we get to it even though a more timely response is required circle. Would you mind waiting the 10 days for payment? I bet not! I am on paperless billing you know, and that should require some parts of the on-line system actually work, or at least a system that allows me to pay my bills without paying some stupid fee.

Like Dante and Virgil I now finally spot an exit from within the 9th Circle, as this new found link somehow actually allowed me to pay the d***** bill. I expect in another week they might have everything else fixed. Maybe. But honestly I would not expect to see pigs flying out my monitor the next time I access the web site.

And all this was for an operation where I wanted to actually give them money.....

Tuesday Lunch

2009-01-13T20:24:00.002-05:00

A smaller than usual group, on a cold day, sitting near the entrance to the Blue Chip Bistro.

Yak Trax

2009-01-11T10:57:00.001-05:00

With all the ice and snow we have had recently I am happy to have a set of Yak Trax.

It is like having tire chains for your feet.

Tuesday Lunch

2009-01-07T00:27:00.005-05:00

A Roly Poly Day

No Tuesday lunch is complete unless there is an extended cell phone discussion. Today got out of hand with all our social technology gear on display.

Since I've ben remiss here are some photos from lunches past.

December 2008 at the BJC:

November 2008 also at the BJC:

and one from September (Cafe Laura):

A Charlie Brown Christmas

2008-12-24T01:27:00.005-05:00

My DirecTV has been on the fritz lately. In the summer I usually lose my local channels when my neighbor's decorative maple greens (actually reds) up but I watch so little TV in the summer it doesn't bother me. It bugs my wife for a while, but that's another story...

So this fall I was surprised I did not get my locals back as I raked away the remainder of the leaves that fell. It wasn't until last week I finally tracked the problem to a faulty multiswitch and swapped it out. My locals were back, but alas it was too late to catch any showings of my favorite Christmas special, A Charlie Brown Christmas.

I popped over to Netflix and moved it to the top of my queue but it wasn't going to get here in time. Feeling a bit down my better half tried to cheer me up by pointing out we made a VHS copy some time back. She departs for the basement and reemerges with a never-been-played-back before (gotta love how we record them then forget them) home made VHS copy.

I forgot how long ago we recorded it by after viewing the noisy recording we soon discover it was taped back in 1998. Dave Thomas is still alive and smiling and hawking Wendy's burgers, old TV news personalities come back, and stores like Ames and Hills are back in business and selling us stuff for Christmas. (I used to enjoy the Hills Christmas-time jingle "Hills is where the toys are.")

Grainy and aged, the Peanuts characters popped to life as best they could on a low resolution recording device. Not that the original was much better with its low production value and zany editing. It wouldn't matter. The message that Charlie Brown's special resonates would come thru no matter what the medium and production value. In some way the low video quality lives up to the story line itself.

Apparently in 1998 right after CB aired CBS then ran A Garfield Christmas. Amazingly enough that feline also figures out the true meaning of Christmas.

For some reason, maybe it is the weather, maybe the calendar, maybe not catching all the specials on TV, this Christmas I felt rushed, pushed, achy, and tired. Despite my children's enthusiasm and anxiousness, somehow I lost the feeling of Christmas, the feeling of something special in the air. Even copious amounts of TSO failed to revive the spirit.

Two low budget productions, recorded on an even lower budget storage device, shoved into a storage box, forgotten and trapped in a basement dungeon for over 10 years, having been recorded in another time and era when I felt so much younger, somehow have restored my feeling of Christmas, the feeling of what makes it special.

Merry Christmas one and all. Merry Christmas.

Happy Birthday, Dad

2008-12-23T22:19:00.002-05:00

While cleaning up the house my brother came across a collection of my dad's old 35mm slides. He had them burned to DVD and over Thanksgiving we had a real treat looking at the old photos on TV.

From Dad's Slides

This photo is a snap of my dad as a young man, from a time I can barely remember. I'm guessing this was taken about 1965, which would have made him 40. The old man would have been 83 today.

Happy birthday, Dad. We miss you.

Video of the 'Week': The Cat Came Back

2008-10-25T10:50:00.003-04:00

The Cat Came Back was a minstrel song first penned by Harry S. Miller in 1893. It has been played and rerrecorded n various forms in the century + since it was originally published. This gem I found on YouTube is a modern take on this old classic:

Enjoy!

My review of the Giant Twist Freedom DX

2008-10-23T22:18:00.011-04:00

For the past 8 years I have regularly commuted to work via bicycle. When possible I'll also leave the car in the garage and use my bike to run short errands. Of course living in an area with hilly terrain means lots of huffing and puffing, lots of gear shifts, and a decent amount of sweat. The side benefit is I get some much needed and regular exercise. (We'll discount the occasional trip to the ER from dramatic wipeouts at speed.)

Weather is the biggest limiting factor. Too hot and too cold and the bike stays home. Same for rain and snow. Hot days are the worst since I can't afford to arrive at the office all hot and sweaty and stinky. For some reason my coworkers aren't too happy about it. There also are days when the day seemed to last too long and my legs are lead weights on the ride home. Throw in a headwind (why is it always a headwind and never a tailwind?) and the ride can be miserable.

For this reason I was looking for a second bike to throw into the arsenal, one of those new-fangled electric hybrid bikes that require pedal effort to engage the electric motor. Giant Bicycles built several such models but they always were discontinued after what seemed like a short production run. Their latest entry into the hybrid electric market is the Twist Freedom DX.

The Twist DX features twin Li-ion batteries, a 250 watt front hub motor, 7 speed hub shifter, and a claimed range of up to 75 miles with a rider of perfect BMI, flat roads, temps in the range 60-75F, and no wind. I wanted to know how such a beast would behave in the more 'real' world: semi-hilly terrain, a rider and backpack combined weight close to 215 pounds, fall temperatures, and throw in a nasty headwind every now and then.

Unfortunately it seems the only on-line review I could find was from May 2008 by Popular Mechanics. Unfortunately a late spring ride in flat Central Park in New York City did not satisfy my criteria for a good review. Not to knok the fine folks at PM, but they just did not test it in 'my' conditions.

So one day I received a phone call from Erik at The Bicycle Shop. Erik knew I was interested in the Twist so he was kind enough to loan it to me for a few days. I just hope he hasn't sold my regular bike waiting for the hybrid to come back home!

I rode the bike for a few days to drain one of the batteries down, fully charge it, and run it again until the battery drained so I could get an estimate of range and power required to charge it back up. I also wanted to see if it was as 'un-bike like' as the PM review made the experience out to be.

So let's start with the good:

Power is great! At any time you can be in any 4 of the 7 speeds of the hub shifter. I could accelerate strongly even in high gear, trading range as the motor had to work harder. On my commute home a hill that normally takes me 11 minutes to climb blew by in only 7. I was not pedaling as hard as on my regular non-electric bike but I was still getting a good workout although not as vigorous. You still have to supply some of the motive power. One evening there was a stiff headwind. Not only did I still make good time I arrived at home not feeling all beat up by the wind.

Now for the not so good:

Hill climbing power is good but definitely gave up a few mph. It is certainly not insufficient power and was an acceptable tradeoff. Hoever, pull a lot of hills in the Twist DX's Sport mode and watch the battery drains FAST. Use 'Normal' mode and they still drain pretty quick although not at as rapid a rate. The geek in me wishes there were an ammeter to monitor how much power was going to the motor.

As a commuter I have a backpack with a heavy laptop computer and lots of paperwork. Being slightly overweight myself the Twist DX had a lot of stuff to pull up that hill. I could see right away we were not going to get anywhere near the 75 mile range ('Eco' mode in flat terrain), which of course I did not realistically expect, but I was hoping to get closer to the rated specs for 'moderate hill'. I doubt I could climb PA26 from Pine Grove Mills to Joe Hayes Vista on a single charge (it is one heck of a climb).

I expect the range to get slightly better as the battery packs get conditioned by having a few charge cycles on them but currently have no way to scientifically validate that. I should also point out that temperatures were in the range 40-50 degrees F during my rides and the cold does affect that state of charge somewhat. Overall my range was more in the range of the 'steep hill' part of the range chart Giant supplies rather than 'moderate hill'. A re-review after a change to a warmer season and a few charge cycles on the packs should verify the above hypothesis. At the very least with current observations we have a measured range performed under less than ideal conditions and much closer to real world (or at least real world Happy Valley).

And now, the rest of the story:

I drained one of the two battery packs in appx. 18 miles. In those 18 miles there were some good hills to climb. The Twist DX and I blew past riders struggling in low gear, who watched in amazement as we went by at what seemed like light speed. Miles were mostly accumulated in the DX's 'Normal' power setting although a few hill climbs were conducted in the 'Sport' setting to see how fast I could get up the hill.

At the end of each of my 3 mile legs I always felt like I wanted to ride more. Even after a long day in the office with leaden legs the Twist DX made the ride a pleasure. Even at the end of the battery's charge the motor still pulled strong, losing power in probably the last minute or so of the charge cycle. I don't know if Giant fully depletes the battery or simply cuts it off at some lower level.

Range anxiety is mitigated by having the second power pack to switch to when the first depletes. When the 'Right' battery went down to 0 and cut off, I simply flipped the selector to 'Left' and was happily using the power assist once again.

With he battery depleted I hook the charger up to a power monitor to see how much electricity it would require to fully charge. The charger drew a measured 62 watts and consumed .26 kWh to charge the pack. At $.09/kWh, this translate to a smidge over $.02 electricity for 18 miles or an astounding $0.0013 / mile. It costs more than that just to start mt car!

Random thoughts:

Clearly set up as a single model for both the US and European markets, the charger comes with a European power plug and a dongle to convert said plug to a standard 3 prong one. I don't mind but dongles can be easily lost if not careful.

The Twist DX comes with an LED tailight that runs off its own batteries. Curiously, no headlight.

I have a habit of resting my foot on the pedals while waiting at stoplights. This habit would activate the torque sensor and make the front wheel want to spin. Off the line acceleration is strong so if you're not careful you can fly out into traffic. I almost did! I'm surprised Giant didn't put in brake cutoff switches.

The integrated pannier system hides the batteries and also provide some storage space. They were too small for my laptop computer and might even be too small for a MacBook Air. They were large enough to hold my paperwork folders but since they won't hold the laptop I'm still going to need the backpack. They were large enough to hold my lunch.

Giant does not recommend using a child carrier. My own children are too big for a carrier but I was hoping to use one to haul a week's worth of groceries from Wegman's. One can only fit so much into a backpack!

Top assisted speed is 15 mph. Anything above that you have to pedal to get there.

The power connector for the front hub motor makes for a somewhat wider than normal front wheel profile, making it interesting to park the bike in some bike racks. I had no problems with the rack in front of Wegman's.

Giant states in the owners book to specifically not leave the bike out in the rain.

The bottom line:

I was hoping for range closer to the advertised 75 miles but I suspected this would be too optimistic given the weight I expect it to carry and given the terrain. I find it to be an excellent commuter vehicle, provided you want to live life in the bicycle lane instead of the fast lane. The Twist DX will appeal to those who's litany of reasons not to ride a bike are effort to overcome local terrain and aversion to arriving at work sweaty and tired.

Its $2,200 list price leaves you wondering if you would buy a used commuter car or cheap scooter instead but I'll challenge there's nothing like riding a bike on a quiet uncongested bike path. As the PM review suggests, serious bikers will likely shun this bike, but they're not its intended market. The Twist DX will appeal to commuters and errand runners like myself and it offers a no excuse option for those sitting on the fence saying they'd love to bike to work, but...

I really hope that its asking price of 2 large doesn't relegate it to niche status. Go try one for yourself. You'll enjoy the experience.

The bottom line:

Would I buy one for myself? That is a tough question! Obviously I hated to part with the Twist Freedom DX at the end of the review period. I wuld love to have this bike as part of my fleet. At 2 large it is a tough decision to make. But yes, I am saving my pennies.

Acknowlegements:

I wish to express my gratitude to Erik and the Bicycle Shop for the extended test drive. Not every bicycle shop would loan out such an expensive machine for an open-ended test period, especially with the only collateral being a 6 year old entry-level mountain bike ;) But Erik is just that nice a guy and I think he's a great guy to do business with.

Video of the 'week...'

2008-09-22T00:44:00.004-04:00

Like I said, whatever the posting frequency is... this is a funny cat vs. printer video from YouTube. The sound effects make it hilarious. Well, ok. After a long day it sure seemed pretty hilarious...

Song of the Day

2008-09-03T09:50:00.003-04:00

Today I'll kick of the Song of the Day, week,or perhaps month. Well, whenever I get around to it, which is what the posting frequency seems to be.

Anyway for the last week I've had this song stuck in my head since hearing it on the radio on a log drive from here to there or maybe it was there to here.

This clip from '68 is unusual for its high quality and that Quo wasn't lip-syncing. They may have been singing over the instrumental track. Check it out at the 1:59 mark where Rossi starts laughing. Either the acid kicked in or the dancers were really bad. You have to dig the outfits... so much for being fashionable!

You never know what you'll see...

2008-09-03T00:25:00.011-04:00

...while on the way to work.

Biking in one fine AM this last March (yah, I'm a little behind in my blog posts) I came across this in the parking lot at the Nittany Lion Inn:

Seems they were in town between cities while on Meow Mix Who's Cat Wants to be a Millionaire game show tour.

Anyway, imagine seeing this in your rearview window, or perhaps this view thru your windshield...

The Times They Have Changed...

2008-08-03T00:39:00.004-04:00

So while 2 months ago I mused how satellite radio made me miss out on local flavor, XM6 with their deep catalog reminded me there is a lot of stuff out there still to be discovered by me.

While driving home for lunch the other day this one by former child star Eddie Hodges started playing:

Considered cute when sung b a 4 year old in 1961, somehow today I think this one would have 'restraining order' written all over it ;)

Sometimes you need to come up for air...

2008-05-28T08:35:00.005-04:00

So it's been a while....

Last month I was driving to Tyson's Corner in VA for a one day conference sponsored by Microsoft. I had a rental car, no XM radio, and I forgot my iPod. What was left was local radio and flipping the dial every 50 miles or so, sometimes being forced to listen to corporate playlists. The alternative was static.

I happened upon a rather good station somewhere in the DC area as I drew close and caught this song. It was dark and rainy and I was in a mood and the backbeat was in time with the windshield wipers. The BB King sample was kind of cool and worked really well.

When I got to my hotel I was able to Google some of the lyrics was able to find it on YouTube.

Lately my XM has been stuck on one 'channel', usually 6. Sometimes you need to turn off the national services and go local to find some color out there. As long as the playlist isn't corporate...

The Tuesday Lunch Bunch

2008-02-27T23:58:00.001-05:00

Another shot of the regular crew....

as always, a scary looking bunch of tech types....

They'll want their money back....

2008-02-13T16:03:00.002-05:00

I have a friend who loves to send me internet jokes, even if I've seen them 1000 times before. I don't mind since at least we're keeping in touch.

Well on this day when I'm stuck at home still not feeling well and the weather miserable, a get a joke from him that I didn't find particularly funny. What made me laugh out loud was the 'targeted' ads Google inserted.

I think they'll want their money back....

Let it snow...

2008-02-12T19:24:00.000-05:00

Snow is good for something... sometimes we forget.

Kids, Don't Do This at Home!

2008-02-12T19:04:00.000-05:00

No, that is not the incandescent glow of 2050^oF glass and an unapproved method of gathering molten glass. If it were we'd be seeing quite a different picture of the poor gaffer about to burst into flames. Instead it is the incandescent glow of... well, a 100 watt incandescent light bulb.

Yes the melter is *still* out of service.

Here is the guilty party:

so when a prior element popped it left a piece of itself behind. The intense heat of the melter actually melted the nichrome into the refractory where it formed a material so hard they could make weapons out of it. Part of this stray nichrome-ceramic compound would bubble out of the shelf and short out the replacement element, starting the process all over again.

Our goal of the day was to remove the affected portion of the element shelf and replace it with a new one.

Once the shelf dries we'll put in the replacement element:

Here's the last candy dish I made a month ago, the last piece to come out before the melter melted.

It has the size I'm looking for but I still need work on the foot. In a closeup the bubble that became the foot got misshapen and off-center. It doesn't matter as poor cross ventilation got the poor thing caught in a cold draft right near the end, and the bottom is all cracked.

What was interesting on this piece is I went almost all tool-less on the final shaping, getting the open end nice and hot so it flowed out all on its own without ever having to hit it with the jacks. Pity about the foot and the crack as it made such a nice dish....

DQ Grand Reopening

2008-02-06T20:37:00.000-05:00

After going a year without a Dairy Queen, the store at its new location, 310 W. Aaron Drive, opened with great fan-fare.

Even some celebrities showed up:

From L to R is Mike the Mailman, Don Boller, and myself.

Welcome back , DQ!

The Day After Groundhog Day

2008-02-04T10:58:00.000-05:00

Super Sunday, or around here this year, the Day After Groundhog Day, was a super Sunday indeed. It was School Spirit Day for both of the kids' schools at the Bryce Jordan Center where we got discounted tickets to see the PSU Lady Lions take on the Wisconsin Badgers. It was a welcome respite from the losing fight chipping away at the 2 inches or so of ice the slush storm left us on Friday. (6 more weeks of this? I'll get you, Phil!)

Prior to the start of the game a remote control blimp emblazoned with McLanahan's logos and advertising their Penn State Room circled about the Jordan center. Later on, at half-time, it was circling the arena and then hovering over whatever section was supposedly shouting the loudest for the blimp. It would then drop coupons for something or other onto the crowd.... I don't want to comment publically on what the visual looked like!

A blimp spitting cupons out its back end was almost the highlight of the game as the Lady Lions let this one slip right from the start. Lackluster play, missed opportunities, and a boatload of missed free throws! There is just not enough vituperative to describe it.

The real highlight of the game came with about 4 minutes of play left in the second half. We were comtemplating getting a jump on the crowd when the Nittany Lion showed up:

That was the highlight of the game along with the freebie 4 mugs that had blinking LED lights around the base. (We'll ignore the almost $30 for 3 cheeseburgers and a hot dog for now.) It was a nice family afternoon out even if the game turned into a stark reminder of how much the program has sunk.

At least the Super Bowl lived up to its billing this year, instead of the Super Hype of years past, where one team gets blown out so early you keep watching just for the commercials. (Which stank.) This one will go down as one of the best games ever played. I love defensive struggles that get settled in the final minute of the game. Enough's already been written about this game so you don't need any of my commentary.

Then it was back to trying to get all that damned ice out of the driveway. Which brings me back to the day known as the Day After Groundhog Day. If this keeps up I'm going to drive to Punxsutawney and dig up that groundhog....

Rain, No Game

2008-01-29T00:48:00.000-05:00

Damn....

After finally hitting stride with regular visits to the hot shop, Satan acts up again....

Danged thing popped an element last week leaving a crucible full of half melted batch. The replacement elements fared no better. Nothing like replacing a broken part with a defective part.

Needless to say it'll be another week or two before the replacement replacements are installed, we're back up to 2050^oF, and we have 200 lbs. of molten glass ready for blowing instead of a giant ugly paperweight. I'm already starting to shake with withdrawal symptoms.

Cold Hikes and Mid-winter Blahs

2008-01-24T00:01:00.000-05:00

I'm not much of a fan of January. Nope, not at all. The Days are still short and around these parts we don't get a whole lot of sunshine. So this past Sunday we had plenty of sun. with the temperatures hovering between 10- 13° F it was a good day for a short hike in the woods. I decided to hit up a piece of SGL- 176 behind Toftrees. Of course it didn't hurt there was a cache there that I hadn't yet found!

This section of the gamelands is part of the PSU waste-water spray irrigation system. With it being this cold the active spray fields will be busy making some impressive natural ice sculptures. They did not disappoint!

While I was enjoying the solitude on this crisp winter afternoon I came across a family also on a nice hike. I was glad to see I wasn't the only nut out there.

When I got to the cache site I saw lots of footprints in the snow, leading me like breadcrumbs to the cache container. Funny how easily I found it this time. Now I was wondering if the family I passed on the way in were crazy geo-cachers! It seems we had quite a few in town. The day before was the second annual Central PA Mid-winter Blahs event cache.

We crammed 123 people who had nothing better to do on a Saturday afternoon into the back 2 rooms at Prospectors. Last year we had 60 folks show up.

This year's event more than doubled last year and everyone had a great time. We also helped boost business on a slow Saturday for a local business.

George + Moe2 deserve a big round of thanks for their door prize donations. The staff at Prospectors did a great job with the huge crowd. And the cashers themselves deserve a big hand for being such great sports for turning out in droves and having a great time. I can't wait for next year!

The Tuesday Lunch Bunch

2008-01-23T23:31:00.000-05:00

Forgot to post this last week! I warned them this would show up on my blog. Pretty scary group hanging out at the BJC on a Tuesday afternoon.

Stone Valley Vista

2008-01-13T22:00:00.000-05:00

It has been almost a year since the happy gang got together on a cold January morning (15F) to go deep in the woods to find a cache named Dobby's Home. So while enjoying a nice Saturday evening dinner my phone rings and out of the silence it is Billy Blades, aka Moe2 of 2 Guys Named Moe, asking if I wanted to join them to locate Stone Valley Vista, a cache at the top of Stone Mountain where one will enjoy one of the nicest views on Standing Stone Trail.

So who could say no?

So off I go on a trek with the Moes, to locate more tupperware, or at least in this case an ammo box, in the woods.

When we got to the designated parking coordinates our GPS units, while correctly pointing in the direction of the cache, were in reality going to take us the wrong way along the wrong trail. Moe1 would have you believe her GPSr knew the correct way but in reality her unit had frozen and would always point "that way", whatever "that way" happened to be.

So there I was with all of 157 finds to my experience, with the great and experienced Moes, who were "arrow following" along the wrong trail. After stopping at the trail head I realized we were going the wrong way (despite the arrows on the GPS units) and turned the Moes around. So instead of mindlessly following the arrow on our equally mindless for 1.3 miles we began a long and interesting 2 mile hike up Standing Stone Trail. The trail got quite exciting at times,as I think they imported extra boulders along the way just for us!

When we get some ways behind the Greenwood Furnace church the side of the trail quickly drops off the mountain:

Billy "Goat" Blades can't wait to tempt fate:

A bit up the trail we spot a pipe coming out of the ground along the side of the trail:

Further up we spot this concrete pad, under which we think the pipe make an abrupt turn down the slope:

It wasn't until the way down we saw down at the bottom of the mountain there was a small dam on the creek and what looked to be a pump house. I wonder where this water was pumped to? And how did they keep it from freezing in the winter? I'll post an update when I get more information.

Anyway at least now our GPS units are pointing in the correct direction and the distance counter drop under one mile. Feeling confident at the .7 mile mark the trail makes a 180 degree turn and we walk back .1 mile or so before the trail again turns in the correct direction. At this point begins what is probably a very rocky climb for about .25 miles. The rocks have slowed down the Moes

and here is where I make my break for the cache....

Of course I stop along the way to wait for the Moes to catch up and sneak a peak at the view to come:

Despite waiting for them I manage to pull awayand get to the cache site well ahead of the Moes. Now I have to ask myself, do I be nice or do I pull a Dobby ? So I decide to be nice and pull a snack out of my bag and enjoy a nice meal while waiting for them to show up. The true "Billy Goat" easily traverses the rocky shoals:

and before you know it the cache is ours:

Great view from up here:

I logged the cache on site my my smart phone:

When you think you're alone in the woods, along comes another hiker:

who Moe1 convinces to take our picture:

Now I am not shorter then the Moes! I happened to be standing in a hole and Moe1 is doing her best to keep me there so I don't pop up to my true height. I guess we were having too much fun as the PSU student continued upon the trail and at a rather high rate of speed.

Billy tried to take a picture with his camera phone thru his binoculars:

No wonder the student left real fast. I would too.

So with one last look before we left

we departed the summit and headed back down to the car. Which we hoped didn't get towed away or worse.

On the way down we spotted some trees that began life under difficult circumstances, started out heading the wrong way, but somehow righted themselves and continued on life's journey.

Last October I had a DNF at another cache, Stone Blue Stream, so we head off to find that one. First we stop for something to eat at a new place, Couch's, along 305 just outside McAlevy's Fort. A welcome rest stop with good food, and 2008 dog licenses available to boot! Couch's looks like it fills a big need in the area and we managed to get in just as the Sunday after church crowd was letting out. After our pit stop we easily locate Stone Blue Stream thanks to our true Billy Goat's ability to cross raging torrents. With another cache in the found column we head for home to rest up after our latest adventures in the woods.

Caching with the Moes is always great fun. Yeah we rib on each other a lot but its part of teh unique fun we experience searching for tupperware. While my kids like to do the quich cache and dash and we enjoy quality family time together, they just don't like to do the deep woods caches. Enter the best caching friends one can have, 2 Guys Named Moe, to settle ones deep woods fix ;)

Christmas Lights

2008-01-06T11:01:00.000-05:00

It figures that the year my outdoor display turns on me that my street has the honor of being part of the CATA Bus Holiday Light Tour. It seems every day there was some part of the display giving me grief. I like to think that is is my display that attracted the holiday bus this year and having it randomly go half-dead was vexing, to say the least..

Here's a shot of the train display:

It took approximately 1865 watts of power to attract the bus and this is for a modest display. The sold out buses brought about 160 people a night for 7 nights so I guess I invested about a watt/person. I hate to think how much power gets consumed by those large displays.

But now for the grumbling and grief this year's attempt created:

In the background of the last picture you won't see the display I intended which is a blue spot-lit backdrop of my bushes. It came out more white than blue due to the lousy blue-colored GE spotlights I used.

I will say this. I will never use the blue GE spot lights again. I've gone thru about 6 or 7 bulbs over the last 2 holiday seasons. Mostly the blue paint peels right off the lamp! This happens usually in the first few hours of operation. Instead of a nice blue backdrop I get a mostly white- washed out blue. Ugh.

Not only does the paint fleck right off but they have a miserable operation life. Two of them blew out within the first hour of operation, one even burned out as I was installing it! None of the red or green GE spotlights have been as much of a problem. Lowes has been pretty good about replacing them but the PIA factor makes it not worth it. As an experiment I replaced one blue GE with a blue spotlight from Philips. Right out of the box I could see the coloration of the glass was of a much higher quality. This one has gone the entire display season with nary a problem. I'm forced to conclude that blue GE spot lights are just plain junk. Maybe they hold up better out of the weather but then they should not be marketed as outdoor quality.

Let's not even talk about the fixtures. Hopefully the ones I switched to this year will last longer. The high-brightness bulbs on the train are also nearing end-of-life. I cleaned out the entire stock of replacement bulbs at Target to keep the train running on time this year.

I continue to be impressed by the brightness, color, and clarity of the LED lights I am slowly switching in to the display. While the LEDs themselves are holding up well with good light output I am still concerned about the quality of the sockets and wires, especially for outdoor displays. I think the old corrosion problems are still there and the sockets will rot out long before the bulbs fail. Given the price premium we have to pay I hope I break even. LED lights have been on the market long enough for the price to start dropping but so far the manufacturers are holding the line.

It is time for the volume discounts to kick in rather than trying to make lots of $$ riding the green trend. Oops I forgot-- this is America. I could drop my power consumption quite dramatically by replacing the remaining strings will all-LED. I'm also in search of good quality outdoor-capable LED or CFL colored spotlights. A high-brightness blue LED spotlight would solve a lot of problems!

Searching for Tupperware.....

2008-01-02T23:03:00.000-05:00

This is my short explanation for geocaching:

"I use a billion dollar government sponsored satellite system to hunt for Tupperware in the woods..."

I find it a fun and unique hobby that has taken me to some very interesting places with the sometimes secondary goal of locating the camouflaged aforementioned Tupperware. As part of the Christmas holiday break I embarked on a special father-son weekend that had as one of its stated goals the thrill of the hunt for the elusive Tupperware. We had been planning this weekend since Thanksgiving and needed the weather to cooperate. Luckily Mother Nature did indeed send us some good weather but not before burying all our potential cache finds under some snow and ice....

We began on Friday afternoon and after what seemed to Jason to be hours of driving the GPS unit bonged we were close to our first stated goal, a cache named 'We Wish you Well', well disguised inside a wishing well in a small park just outside of Danville, PA. After rooting around a bit at ground zero our search was rewarded with a unique cache container that was not the usual Tupperware. Being a bit warm out we just had to stick around a while to play in this nice newly constructed park.

I think someone had a good time in the park. Next it was on to the Buckhorn to locate "Boppin' at Buckhorn", an annoying micro-cache near an abandoned section of the Columbia Mall that eluded us a year ago on Father-Son cache weekend 2006. I'm not a fan of these type of caches but can't stand the thought of having one get away from us. Now last year I searched and searched and searched but came up dry. Jason slept in the warm car while a cold biting wind zapped my energy on that cold and gray day. This time we walked right up to it. Instant find. Go figure...

After this successful hunt we headed off the the Wendy's in the mall for lunch. This was the first eating establishment on Jason's restaurant itinerary. We then completed two more caches before deciding it would get too dark when we arrived at our final destination. We skipped the additional 3 caches on our list and pressed on.

We arrived at "the big house", as Jr. calls it, just as it was getting dark. Despite the doom and gloom forecast if ice and snow blocking the way in we were able to pull up without a problem. We were greeting inside by a live Christmas tree, something that hasn't adorned the house since 1995. It was nice to see and it put a nice touch on the weekend.

While I set about unpacking our bags Jason decided to reconstruct a roller coaster with his new iCoaster set

We lounged about a bit and then headed off to Jason's second requested restaurant, Henry's Ghost Steak House in Henryville, PA. Henry's is the latest incantation for this one building nestled on a sharp curve on PA 715. A few of the on-line reviews I read were good so I agreed with his choice and we headed out.

Being our first time here, no matter which incantation, we had no idea what to expect. The interior was pleasantly decorated even if it did feel like a crazy mashup of the 1970's and 1990's. There was a distinct wet ash odor coming from the fireplace that temporarily assaulted my senses but that soon passed. The food did live up to its reviews and Jason enjoyed his kids meal but our young and inexperienced server couldn't get his order right no matter how many times I tried to explain it to her. What part of 'he gets french-fries and a dessert as part of that' could she not understand? It says so in big print in the kids menu.

We never did get his free dessert and I ended up paying for the free fries but it was getting late and I was tired and decided it wasn't worth the fuss over a measly16 bits. We'll give the Ghost another opportunity on a later date. Despite all that you can see from the smile the Ghost was good.

Saturday was a slow day that featured our only home cooked meals, breakfast (requested menu was pancakes and bacon) and lunch (grilled cheese). Reminder to self- bring a decent frying pan next time.

After spending the afternoon visiting some friends I hadn't seen in quite a while it was time for phase 3 of the weekend, the BB gun shoot:

Jason is a great shot. After seeing A Christmas Story for the umpteenth time he loves to quote "but kid, you'll shoot your eye out...". Don't worry... he is wearing his safety glasses!

After shooting Black Bart and the rest of his Dastardly Gang it was time for restaurant three on this ever more expensive itinerary, the Dansbury Depot. This is one of Jason's favorite spots and I like heading here myself. The food is always good and I never had a problem with the service. They also have Boylan Soda, made from real cane sugar, so I always have to get a bottle when I come here.

There is just something about an old train station....

Sunday AM featured restaurant 4, Billy's Pocono Diner. We met up with some friends who can be scary looking that early in the morning:

After Billy's it was time to reactive the geocaching phase of the big weekend. First stop was God's Glorious View in Mt. Pocono. I couldn't believe we found this one which as I fear was buried under the snow and ice pack. We got real lucky here! The view did live up to expectations. I only managed 2 snaps. This one is looking towards Camelback ski area

and this one which I believe is overlooking the new Mt. Airy Resort and Casino.

After some fit and start navigation we were off to successfully find Tomato Soup. To avoid a stream crossing in the cold we approached from a back way in and discovered more snow and ice.

This marked our completing the entire Soup for Lunch cache series we started during our 2006 adventure. We thought we'd check out the nearby Big Pines Forest cache but the trail was much too icy, with a steep slope straight into the creek, for us to chance.

On our way back to teh car we spotted this tree growing out of a rock, reminding us of nature's power and how life always finds a way to survive.

We wrapped up by finding two more caches and one DNF, an annoying micro in the woods nobody has found since August of 2006. We headed back to the big house, packed up, and ran out the door to head home before the big snowstorm struck. We made it back to Danville stop at McDonald's, our final restaurant on the itinerary. We picked this one because of the awesome play-place.

Our geocache weekend adventure yielded a meager 8 finds and 1 dnf. For some folks 8 finds in a morning isn't even breaking a sweat. All told I must've dropped over $125 on food and gas for the weekend. But it is not about the numbers.....

The time we spent together was priceless and for good measure had some geocaching and visiting old friends thrown into the mix. I can't wait for next year.

Old, New....

2008-01-01T21:56:00.000-05:00

So while I wasn't blogging....

Sadly early last January we said goodbye to Popi:

Popi was 14 or 15. We found him living under our house in Churchton, MD back in 1991. He moved in with us and got along very well with our other cat. He was probably no more than a kitten then and lived a good full life.

In September we said hello to Cookie:

Cookie literally moved in with us, showing up at camp on Labor Day weekend and settling in at our feet around the campfire. She was the quietest cat we ever had, sleeping all the way home on the 3 hour car ride.

Cookie joins our others: camp cat Kitty

and Paws rescue Tom and the mysterious Misty

Cats are pretty popular around our house, and leave it to the kids to even spot a frozen one at the State College First Night celebration

Where've I been?

2008-01-01T19:30:00.000-05:00

Since it has been over a year since the last post.....

I decided it was time to reactive this blog. Blogging isn't easy... even finding the time to string together a few random thoughts has proven difficult, both in this log and one I maintain professionally. It is time to reactivate that one as well.

I'll continue to talk of adventures in the hot shop as well as other activities, such as geocaching, post random stories, rants and raves....

So sit back, relax, enjoy, and feel free to comment!

Smile, it's Juneuary

2006-01-30T00:27:00.000-05:00

I have no idea what the ad campaign was all about. All I remember that at some point in the middle 1970's, in January, 'Smile, it's Juneuary' was placarded over what seemed to be all the New York City Transit Authority buses. It seemed appropriate slogan for this year given our record warmth this January. The weather was more spring-like than summer-like but 'Smile, Its Marchuary' just doesn't have the same ring to it. In fact, it sounds downright morbid.

Holy smokes.... I've been published...

Two trips to the hot shop this week- Wednesday and Sunday. Lots of floor models. I had a giant candy dish crack in two on Wed. when we went to break it off the punty. I think the cold air pouring in from an open window didn't help. The second piece came out great although we almost lost this on the punty as well. It was a large piece made with Uroboros dark green frit picked up after the second gather. Hard to believe I made this one in the little glory hole.

Sunday was the same-- one floor model, one giant piece. I think the giant piece came out cool. I think I managed to get it to blow much thinner. Carlo pointed out my second gather bubbles may have been too large too close to the moile. I slumped the bubble down a bit before gather 3 and it appeared to work. A much thinner lip although I'm still not too pleased with how large my moiles are. On my first piece I jacked too far down the bubble from the moile. During the transfer it got too cold and cracked from the moile to the jack line. Then the lip started coming apart and from that point we knew we had a floor model. At least this one didn't wait to jump off the punty at the end.

My large spun-out got interesting. It was so long that I couldn't see over the edge to properly place the punty. I actually had to look through the piece for proper placement. When I went to puffer it I almost didn't reach. Things got so hot that poor Jim, who was providing protection, ended up donning the kevlar gloves. There I sat in short sleeves and black pants taking the heat and my protector was all dolled up in Kevlar keeping my unprotected arms from bursting into flame!

Rant and rave time....

We *finally* took down the Christmas tree this weekend. When I took off the lights I went to check each string for burned out bulbs. Imagine my shock when I discovered all of our light sets had failed. I ended up getting my voltmeter out and painstakingly tested each buld and each socket. Out of 100 lamps (4 sets of 25) I had 30 burned out bulbs, several of which whose shunt devices failed and caused the sets not to light. I didn't have that many replacement bulbs so I ended up gutting one of the sets for its bulbs. These are specialty sets (G40 ice) otherwise I'd toss them and get new sets. Two sets of 100 mini lights will be 'tossed' -- I'll actually keep them so I cannibalize them for the bulbs. I think these two 100 sets will be replaced with LED lights next year. Hard to believe that so many bulbs were burned out. The rate of simultaneous failure jsut does not seem statistically valid.

Fun with punties

2006-01-24T01:07:00.000-05:00

It has been another busy week with little time to blog or do just about anything else. With the spring semester back in full force we're back to the usual blow schedule, Wednesday nights from 9 PM to midnight. At least this semester I don't have a class at 8 AM Thursday to make life interesting!

I've had reasonable luck working large the past few sessions. I'm still not getting my lips thin enough although on Sunday I think I managed a reasonable size. I'm still not gettign the flare that I want on the spins but I think it has more to do with heat control, or my lack thereof, on the top of the piece. They are getting large. And heavy. I was sure my wrists were going to lock up on the one piece I made Sunday. I couldn't believe how much weight I was balancing on the end of the pipe. As I came out of the melter I went straight for the marver to control the giant molten glob I seemed barely in control of. Let's see-- a giant blob, probably 8 - 10 pound worth, of moltem glass at 2050 degrees F, precariously waving at the end of a 5 foot stick. Just how much damage can I do?

At least I stayed away from the white glass.

Necking this piece was interesting. Jim B. showed up, making for a welcome second partner. I had Carlo turn pole while Jim handled protection. The intense heat coming off the glass was incredible. There's no way I can work them this large without a second partner.

This one made it to the box. The rest of the morning didn't go so well. I sent one to the cullet pile when experimenting with the optic mold. I was doing a solo blow on the second bench while Jim and Carlo were working on another piece. It was a good day to have both glory holes burning. Too bad I forgot to tool up the second bench. I blew the bottom to thin and my attempt at a pumpkin died on the pipe when it collapsed on a reheat.

Carlo and Jim weren't as lucky. Their pieces kept popping off the punties all morning. Carlo got too agressive when tweezing the top of one of his and they were unlucky with the rest. Even my little flower vase commited punty-cide right near the end.

On Wednesday's session I experimented with a different white powder, an opal white from Uraboros. I thought I laid it on the first gather rather thick but in the end it really wasn't that strong a white. It looked OK but I was hoping for something a little bit deeper. My secondary colors were some Uraboros cherry red and marigold yellow. The effect came out really well and I imagine would have been even more dramatic had the white been stronger. I'll have to remember this color combination. I gave this one to my daughter who refuses to give it back just long enough so that I can photograph it for the portfolio.

The Patton Township ABC dinner was Friday evening. The dinner is held to honor the township residents such as myself who volunteer counteless hours to making local government work. I can't imagine what our taxes would be if paid staff had to do all that work. It was nice to see so many other civic minded folks present. Tom Kurtz, our township manager, is stepping down afer 22 years to take another position in the area. He got a well deserved a standing ovation.

It is hard to believe how warm this past January has been. Last Friday I was again driving with the sunroof open. I jsut hope we don't end up paying for it in March. I even let the fire go out for a few days. It was nice not having to fetch logs on a regular basis for a little while. Now mind you we have central heat. Its just that it is natural gas and this year the cost of gas is just nuts. We went to firewood as an alternative heat source and found the wood stove does a better job of heating the house.

The weather started to turnback to winter on Saturday, just in time for me to be doing outdoor work. Once again I got the outdoor Christmas lights down before Groundhog Day. Not bad-- only one expensive net light set had problems. Unfortunately it is the wrong set to be bad. Several years ago I bought some 'heavy duty' sets at an after Christmas closeout at Target. The wires were heavier and the sets looked well constructed. I figured with their reliability they would pay for themselves over the cheaper made equivalent sets sold across the way at WalMart. Was I ever wrong. One set got eaten by the snow blower. The other set is the one that is now half-dead. Those chaeper WalMart lights? They're still burning....

I hate white....

2006-01-16T01:32:00.000-05:00

I just started working with white. White is an annoying color to work with. It doesn't want to hold its heat. When I made this dish the other night I was amazed just how fast it would lose heat. When on the punty when I was straightening the side walls and getting ready for the spin I was barely thru one revolution when the sidewalls started stiffening up. The jacks started skidding as the walls got stiff. I almost overcooked the glass just trying to keep it hot enough to work with. Even getting in the neck line took more steps than usual.

This was my first successful piece using a white rod. I didn't put any overlay color on it since I didn't think it was going to survive. This one fought me all the way from the starter bubble. My last attempt when using white bar ended in the cullet pile. It would have been a nice piece with blue and green frit mixed in it. That one fought me all the way as well. I was just a little luckier with this one.

I had a little more luck with this one. I used white 00 frit. I did a lot of frit pickups to get enough of a white underlayer. I did a quick gather to get a thin clear layer over the white and then a few rolls in some size 2 blue frit. A gather and trail off over the top and then the usual to make the rest of this dish. There was enough white at the top to keep me from working the lip thin and thus another fight ensued to get the top to fold the way I like it.

I managed one in the box in this morning's (actually yesterday ath the time of this writing) using white. I like the effect of white underneat with color on top. I've now made quite a few contributions to the cullet pile trying to use white in poweder, frit, or bar form. Curses to the new obsession. I'll master this color yet and get back to my usual form!

Spring teased us last week, We had a few warm days and the sun even made an appearance. On Friday afternoon I was even able to shed the light winter coat in favor of shirt sleeves. Winter roared back in with snow showers and ice on Saturday and today despite bright sun shine it was cold. I was getting used to not having to tend to the fire. I had to go to Sears over the weekend and it was amusing to see some of the spring merchandise being put up. I guess the stores are starting to tease us as well. I wonder what the damed groundhog will have to say.

I finally found time to document my 2003 visit to the Henryville ghost station on teh DL&W mainline. Check it out at http://mysite.verizon.net/nucci6/henryville/HenryvilleStation.html.

I also like to collect glass insulators. Insulators are sort of the bridge between my hobbies of workign hot glass and exploring parts of the DL&W main line. I haven't actively collected in the wild in a while. Imagine my surprise on Saturday evening when I came home from a dinner party. Just prior to leaving I had thrown some large logs on the fire. When we got home the fire had died down and pretty much all that was left were the hot ashes. As I was poking thru them to stire up the hot coals to put on a fresh load of wood I noticed something unusual in the ashes. It was two tiny procelan insulators, eithe rfrom an old rural phone drop or an electric fence. They were buried in one of the large logs, covered with years of growth. Amazing.

Picture Perfect

2006-01-08T22:28:00.000-05:00

Here's the result of my New Year's eve session in the hot shop. This is the candy dish that survived. Looks good? Go back and read my Happy New Year blog and you'll see this is the one I initially didn't like! It came out of the annealer a lot better than I remember it going in.

I wish I could do a better job photographing my glass. I have to admit that even with not so good photography this dish looks really good. Sometimes I even impress myself.

On Thursday evening I made another candy dish that looked like this one but experimented with putting on a cookie foot. I never did one of those before. For a first attempt it didn't come out too bad but I'm never going to publically release a photo of it. Let's just say it looks like a first time piece. A few more experiments with cookie feet and I just might have it. I think the larger dishes look good with feet. And some cane. I also managed a perfectly round and perfectly flat plate. We'll use it as a cake plate. I just started doing plates and some days I get great plates. Some days I just add to the cullet pile.

Today was a cullet pile day. I tried working too large for our glory hole and stuff just barely fit. It is hard to do a proper spinout when there's about a quarter inch clearance thru the doors. One dish survived and I think it came out quite well despite an overly thick lip. The other crashed and burned during breakoff. The spin stank and the entire pieces wobbled off center. Ug-lee. I'm kind of glad it self destructed at the end.

As I work larger and larger pieces I'm amazed at how much heavier and hotter the glass is. Jacking is a whole new experience. I have to have someone turn pole and then take the heat on my hand as I cut in the jack line. Just a few more, may be a lot more, and I'll have this worked out to semi-perfection. Watch this space...

I just finished A Fist Full of Fig Newtons by Jean Shepherd. For those not in the know Jean is the creative source for the movie
A Christmas Story which is typical of his story-telling style. Fig Newtons made for some great fireside reading when not tending to life's needs or thinking of something else to create in the hot shop.

Excelsior! You Fathead!

Attention all creative writers and bloggers. I just got this e-mail from my cousin and thought that you'd be interested:

"The Pow Wow Paper will no longer publish a monthly e-zine. The website will now be the exclusive home for all content that the PW publishes. Content will be updated weekly. So visit www.powwowpaper.com often for the best entertainment our writers have to offer."

So go ahead and check it out. Tell them I sent ya!

Double Whammy

2006-01-05T00:56:00.001-05:00

Today (yesterday now) dawned as yet another dull and grey central Pennsylvania winter day. I've lost track of when we last saw the sun. More rain is on the way (it is supposed to *snow* this time of year) and it is a chilly damp. I hate days like this. It felt about 5x worse since I hardly got any sleep staying up half the night to watch the Orange Bowl.

The one bright spot of the day was supposed to be tonight's (ok, technically last night's) session in the hot shop. I had arranged with my Wednesday glass partner Jim (who is an excellent flame work artist by the way) to meet at 7 PM. I was running late and Jim buzzed me on the cell that the shop was locked up and dark. Someone must have noticed the door propped open for us from the session that ended at 6 PM. No smell of burning paper and bees wax tonight.

I then come home to find an e-mail from my other friend that a piece we worked on New Years Eve, a nice candy dish in dark and moss green frit from Uroboros had split in two in the annealer. Damn. I was so happy about how well the bottom came out on that piece, at least until we took a chunk out of it during breakoff. I guess we got it too cool after the last spinout . Either that or someone left the annealer open too long.

Having been burned out from lack of sleep the night before I guess it was good to skip a session. Maybe we can steal a slot Thursday evening.

Whew

2006-01-04T01:20:00.000-05:00

I can start breathing again:
PSU 26 FSU 23

Read all about it in the Centre Daily Times.

Happy New Year

2006-01-01T14:37:00.000-05:00

And good riddance to 2005. In retrospect it wasn't an entirely bad year but there are parts of it we'd all like to forget.

We rang out 2005 in style. I spent the better part of the marning and early afternoon in the hot shop. The last candy dish, my first attempt at using cane, came out rather well. A few more of those and I just might be ready to start blending techniques in producing some really neat pieces. I managed a large candy dish in green for this session along with a slightly smaller one. A hot punty and a too-hot bottom conspired to remove a chunk during the final break-off but I think this piece will come out OK. Although the larger dish looks good overall I wasn't impressed with how thick I let the lip become. Better luck next time. With the holiday break over everyone is back in town so we have to fight for studio time again. I guess it is back to once a week blowing again. Ask nice some day and I might post some pictrues of my pieces.Thanks Carlo for all the glass this past week.

After studio time I went home and picked up the family where we headed downtown for First Night. As usual I forgot my camera so I have no neat photos of any the ice sculptures. I forgot the camera last year as well and took some lousy shots with my camera phone. The kids enjoyed the ice slide and I think this is the first year I didn't go for a ride with the kids down the slide. I think 'the hand' needs another year of healing before I try again. We rang all the bells, threw some resolution sticks into the fire, saw the reindeer and munched away on some of Hanson's Orginal Kettle Korn. After dinner at Grandma's we headed back downtown to check out the rest of the scene and catch the fireworks show at midnight.

Needless to say we all woke up late Sunday morning. New Year's Day is little celebrated in our household- no special dinner or anything. I don't think we ever did anything special on this day, even as a kid. New Years Day was The End of Christmas Vacation meaning Tomorrow we all went Back to School. As such it was a bummer of a holiday.

Pity poor New Year. It really is a bummer of a holiday. New Year's Eve gets all the glory while the day itself gets the hang-over and post-holiday letdown. Nobody sends New Year's cards and as far as music goes my limited research shows that Auld Lang Syne is about it. I'm still waiting for the Charlie Brown New Year special. Or perhaps Garfield's. Even the pinnacle of New Years Day, All Day College Football, is spread over several days, each bowl trying to trump the others in their importance because they commandeered another day of the week. XM will never dedicate a channel to New Year. All New Years gets for its holiday music is some leftover Christmas songs. Heck, even the First Night ice slide, cared for and alive and full of screaming kids on New Years Eve, lies forlorn and tattered the next day, The Day, the holiday itself.

Little loved and often misunderstodd New Years Day plays back fiddle to New Years Eve and Christmas, the back door to the holiday season, when we see the first of the Christmas tress, once lovingly picked out in an ornate family gathering, now unmercifully tossed to the curb awaiting pickup. New Years Day needs a better PR campaign. To heck with the so called war on Christmas- there's been a wa on New Years Day and it lost to the Eve. I say we march on city hall and make something of this holiday. New Year Ham, anyone?

Lazy Daze

2005-12-30T10:30:00.000-05:00

I hate to say but the lazy hazy days of Christmas vacation are drawing to a close. The last week has just flown by. I remember back in the days of being a college undergraduate student when we would get 3+ weeks of time off between semesters. I always looked forward to the week after New Year. The week between Christmas and New Year was always hectic with lots of family and friends visiting an the usual holiday hub-bub. In stark contrast the post New Year Day week was one of almost utter silence, usually just me, the black cat, and the cranky coal stove that needed care and feeding 3x a day.

Even back then I coudn't catch up on my reading. I think I spent one year pondering thru Computer Shopper eyeing up all the hot new 286 machines I wanted to buy. I wore the print off the pages I went thru it so many times. The world was simpler and slower then so moving thru life at quarter speed the week after New Year hardly felt slower than usual. Even at snails pace I still can't figure out how the break seemed to fly by so fast. I guess not much changes over 20 years.

I enjoyed the years we had snow on the ground after Christmas. One year I particularly remember is when a buddy of mine who had a Honda 3 wheel death machine ATV. We would take off on this 110cc under-powered wonder and disappear into the woods of NE PA for hours on end, returning home only after we ran the gas tank to its reserve level or the long fingers of twilight beckoned us home. Wet, tired and hungry we returned home to eat and tell stories of things we never did with people we never met and to spin yarns over what we thought our futures would look like.

Sometimes if we didn't have enough gas in the ATV we'd head over to an abandoned ski area and sled down the bunny slopes. It was fun until we got to the bottom, and then we'd face a long walk back to the top. Sometimes a passing snowmobiler would give us a free tow to the top. We'd take our chances and run to the bottom again, daring the last remnants of daylight to sty with us until we got back to the top and the short walk home.

Every Christmas week without a snow I remember those short cold days. They blew by too quick. The deep woods aren't there anymore, replaced by too-large houses in communities named after common words with an 'e' on the end. I guess the 'e' makes it upscale. The abandoned ski area is now a thriving operation where they now charge $50 just to look at the snow.

By the way, I never did get the new 286 machine-- I waited another year and got a 386. I still have it although it has gone thru 2 motherboards. One got fried in a lightning strike and its replacement caught fire when the cmos battery shorted out. I keep it up on a shelf in the basement, partly as a reminder of how far we have come, and partly because I'm too lazy to haul it to the dump.

Out with the old and in with the new-- we had some friends (namely my primary glass blowing partner) over last night for dinner and a movie. I pumped up the home theater to watch the original Animusic DVD (www.animusic.com). I just love the bass on the final clip, Harmonic Voltage. Check out the DVD if you can. We then lowered the volume and watched Sideways (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375063/). A good time was had by all. Maybe we'll hit the hot shop Saturday afternoon.

Check out my buddy Pete's blog: http://www.bloglines.com/blog/rePete

First Entry

2005-12-29T14:43:00.000-05:00

Cool.

Now even I have a blog. What has the world come to? It's Dec 29 and 2005 is draining away. When did that happen? The last time I checked it was 1994. Oh well. New Year, new blog. Mybe I'll have something interesting to say.

It is grey and rainy outside. I wish it was snowing. It is supposed to snow the week between Christmas and New Year. There's something special about December snow. By march I hate it and all it represents but in December everything is shiny and new and it just feels right.

I managed to get some good time in the hot shop this vacation. There are some nice new glass candy dishes in various colors about the house. We're being overrun with hand blown glass. It is time I started giving some away or even *gasp* selling some.