Bicycle Tinkerer

Grit from grit's day mentioned that her daughters got new bicycles recently.  She home schools them.  The combination of those two facts got me thinking.  The earliest memory of my dad teaching me something mechanical in nature was how to work on my own bike.

Since then my interest in bicycles has waxed and waned but never has gone altogether.  I find the easy to understand mechanics appealing.  I've read Bicycling Science and I really like that a seemingly simple device could also be potentially the most efficient method of travel and most efficient conversion of human power into mechanical movement.  The Wright Brothers were bicycle mechanics before they built their plane.  Once you know how to work on a bike, you can expand that knowledge in so many different ways.

I've become a tinkerer and do-it-yourselfer.  I like to work with tools, in my shop, on our vehicles or fixing broken toys.  I have a basic understanding of how to make things and even went to college for industrial design.  I feel being allowed to pull out some of my dad's tools and work on fixing a flat tire or modding the bike somehow contributed to what I have become.

My bikes are in the garage.  They have a layer of dust on them because they haven't been ridden in a while.  I've worked on my daughter's bike and a couple of other similar projects.  I've even considered holding the occasional bike workshop for the kids in our condo complex.  This way I can get their bikes running better and maybe teach a few how to work on their own.

After we move, I would like to use our bikes more.  This means a little adjustment to our current living style but I think a move to a new area would be an opportunity to do so.  If we are using our bikes more, my kids will soon get their first lesson on how to do maintenance on their own bikes.

Personal Vehicles

I look at other people's cars especially when something different catches my eye.  Being a "car guy", I like it when people customize their vehicle in some way.  It makes the car more personal, and lets people know that it is your car.  People used to do this to the things they owned, especially the things they valued.  Society doesn't do it much anymore and I think we are blending in too much.  Next time you go to a parking lot look at all the cars.  Most will look alike and the ones that stick out are usually the ones that have been customized.

Personalized license plates are a great way to make sure your vehicle is unique.  This first one is great because SFX is short for "specail effects", something I've liked since high school.  As a side note, license plates with less than four letters are rare.  One reason is just the statistics.  There aren't as many combinations possible with only three characters.  Second, some states actually reserve plates with less than four characters for special vehicles, government, etc.

I'm a big fan of Randall Munroe and his webcomic xkcd so this one make me laugh.  Only way it would have been cooler is if it had "1I1-III1"!

Bumper stickers are a cheap and easy way to add a personal touch to a car.  The only down side being that other people may have the same sticker.  (Which could be a good thing.)  One way to make the stickers less common is using them in combination with others.  This combination of bumper stickers confuses me though.  I can understand the Christian fish and the sticker that reads "Are you following JESUS this close?" but I don't quite understand the addition of the "Coexist" sticker along with those.  The sticker itself is a contradiction that when you get down to fundamentals, many of those religions/beliefs don't agree with the others.  If your the owner of this vehicle or someone who understands this, please explain it to me.

Our truck is a vehicle we bought used and it wasn't in the best of shape.  When we got it, my wife actually told me that I could do just about anything to it.  This is big news because she wouldn't let me do anything with the other vehicles because they were in too good of condition.  That being said, there will be some posts about the customizing that I have in mind for it in the future!

Tired TV Buddy

It was Pajama Day and my little buddy fell asleep while we watched Tron: Uprising cartoon.  The older sibling stayed awake and liked the show.

Lightsaber Fun!

Oldest one was invited to a Star Wars themed party last week and got to bring home a foam noodle lightsaber.  That prompted us to make a couple of more which led to a lightsaber fight.  I was given the red lightsaber so I donned a towel for a hood and became Darth Daddy.  C got a cape and became, in her own words, a princess Jedi!  S got a rust red t-shirt from dad's closet and became a robe wearing Jedi.

Two things we learned from this.  Moving noodles look like lightsabers in photos and kazoos make pretty good lightsaber sound effects!

I also learned that my kids would make horrible Jedi but really good Sith lords!  They showed no mercy when striking down their father!

Too Much Stuff

The more I see the stuff we've collected and the stress we put ourselves in to store, clean, pack and move all of it, the more I consider downsizing our belongings and try to focus on things that have more of a purpose for us.

I have been going to Tiny House Blog for over a year now and though I don't think a house as small as what they typically highlight would do well for us and our planned family, it does inspire me to think smaller.  One aspect that small home owners typically say is that a small home causes you to be cleaner and more organized.  You have to be when every inch counts.  They also say that because it's smaller inside, they tend to do more outdoors being active and spending time with friends, family, and the community.  Another benefit is cost.  A small house is cheaper to build or you can spend more on quality because of the smaller amount of materials needed.  It costs less to heat and cool due to smaller total space.  These benefits really attract me and make me look hard at a smaller life style.

On the flip side, we have need of a home with some space.  We are considering adopting one or two children putting our family in the six or seven person household.  It would be hard to have that many people in a tiny house.  We would have to have space for each person's things such as clothes, dishes and cups, beds, toothbrushes, you get my point.  I am a tool monger and love to do things myself.  This includes fixing things around the house and also making my own things.  So I would like to have a workshop space.  My wife requires a small office space.  These are just a few things we would like to have in our home.

Things we have and love but could downsize (I suppose) would be our books (we have several bookshelves full), our movies/shows (a lot of DVDs and VHS), music (CDs and tapes), toys and nicknacks.  We like to cook and have several kitchen related items that aren't used regularly.  We have a variety of things in storage that we don't but once a year (such as clothes) or we have for emergency situations.  (You have to plan for weather/disaster conditions here in south Florida).  We enjoy all of this stuff and they have meaning for us but under extreme circumstances they could be downsized.  We aren't hoarders but we do like to have certain things.

My goal for our future home is not to go large like what has become popular, but to have a well designed home.  Everything organized and easy to find.  Every space being used regularly and potentially for multiple purposes.  The space being easy to clean.  I know that as a larger family, we will need a space for group activities but that might be the only large room in the house.  We will have to work on our ideas together and keep an eye out for what we like.  It will be a while before we can get our dream house anyways.

Premoving Stress

We have so many things to do and plan for before and after our move.  We've gotten a lot done already and got started early.  It just seems like the time is getting too close.

The Mrs. and I were discussing scheduling for our summer.  We are trying to arrange to move after C has gotten out of school.  S has gotten to see my parents so we are trying to get C there also.  There is also both their birthdays, one in June and one in July, that we are scheduling around.  We are figuring that the move will require two trips to get everything moved and give us a chance to be able to clean and prep the condo for renting.  Mix into that a major church event scheduled the first week of July.  At least one the Mrs.'s high school friends has offered to help with the kids once we get up there.  We just need to figure out when to have her come down from the Pittsburgh area to help.

Up until we are completely moved, we have a huge list of things we need to do.  We are intending to fix the grout in the master bathroom's shower.  It's not bad but it has pulled away from the tub and we would like to regrout that bottom part.  We tiled our main living area and just need to finish a small section of base molding along the wall along with installing floor dividers to create a clean transfer between tile and carpet into the bedrooms.  We'll need to fix holes in the wall from nails, accidents, etc.  After these, we'll need to repaint of course.  I intend to deep clean the floors and polish them nicely.  While we have a great deal packed and could probably have everything that's left packed quickly, we do still have some stuff left.  I was building a cargo box for our utility trailer but our HOA asked us to remove the trailer from the property due to association rules.  We understand but it makes it a little more difficult to finish.  Now I have to finish it right before the move.  I was hoping to have it built and start putting stuff in it up until the move to allow us to have more space to clean the condo.  Oh well.

We are under a lot of pressure.  I find myself getting aggravated and depressed about not having more time to do these things or something not working out preventing me from working on this stuff.  In truth though, we have been planning this move for a while.  We've gotten so many things done, such as fixing the truck up (u-bolt issue, new bumper, trailer hitch), selling the car, buying a trailer, and most of our stuff packed.  So I don't understand why I am feeling this way.  I discussed it with my wife and I've decided like so many things, if I am getting down about things, I should just pray about it and leave the outcome to God.

Boredom

I may have had problems with boredom as a child but I really haven't been to afflicted by it for awhile.  I know many people still do, even as adults.  I have been occasionally asked if I was bored due to staring off into space and usually I was just thinking or trying to visualize something in my head.

My children have already had bouts of boredom and I understand that any advice I give them may not sink in.  I mentioned this article before but I feel a need to bring it up again with a post about boredom.

First, the ultimate boredom inducing experience, cabin fever.  To quote wikipedia:

"Cabin fever is an idiomatic term, first recorded in 1918, for a claustrophobic reaction that takes place when a person or group is isolated and/or shut in a small space, with nothing to do for an extended period. Cabin fever describes the extreme irritability and restlessness a person may feel in these situations.

The phrase is also used humorously to indicate simple boredom from being home alone."

So what is the solution?  Be creative and do something.  The problem I see my kids and many people have is that the things that are available to do are usually activities we don't want to do.  I loved this statement by Deborah Shapiro in the BBC article mentioned above,

"People sometimes joke that long-distance sailors must have a high boredom threshold, but my response is that one can only be as bored as one is boring.

Doing things is the antidote. We always have a creative project in progress - the documentation of the voyage itself.

There are hours of repairs to accomplish every day, just to keep things operational. In the evenings, we often play games. Or we read aloud for each other, pausing to discuss our reactions and thoughts.

We also developed thoughts during the winter as a team, mostly along the lines of our favoured subject... All winter we discussed and honed the idea. "

This husband and wife team spent a great deal of time on a boat isolated from the rest of the world.  Cabin fever could have drove them nuts (ala The Shining) but they found the solution that I hope my kids can learn.