RC Cars

Anybody that knows me knows that I am interested in just about everything except baseball. Especially mechanical things... As a kid, I was fascinated by what made things work, so I would take them apart. My Tyco HO scale Burlington Northern train, slot cars, radios, hair dryers, mom's hot air popcorn popper (got jolted by that one), etc, etc, etc. They never went back together again. My problem was that I used excessive force to get things apart which broke many parts.

Today and I still enjoy taking thins apart to see how they work. Recently I gutted an old computer hard drive, and a car oil filter. Why? Because I could. I have an old VCR (remember those?) and a DVR player that are on cue for a rainy day on the work bench...

Now, I pretty much know how and why thing work, I take them apart because I like to see how they were put together. A well engineered mechanical item is as beautiful to me as anything in the Louvre. This is why I am fascinated with F1. Many people look at all the the little wings and fins that the cars have sprouted and think they are ugly. For example, the BMW "twin towers" on the F1.06...

I find them fascinating! I was very disappointed when they were banned.

All this brings me to why I titled this post "RC Cars". I bought a Team Associated RC18MT a couple years ago. That summer I drove it quite a bit, which was cool, but the real joy for me was taking it apart and rebuilding it. I have spent more house standing over it's pieces on the work bench than I have driving it. It is a blast!

Take a look at this exploded view of the thing...

Seriously, this is as exciting to me as any Playboy centerfold. It has working differentials, 4 wheel drive, independent suspension and it is all made to come apart and be put back together. I dream about this in my sleep!

One of these days I'll pick up a 1:10 scale nitro truck. I have been eying this one for a few years now. It would triple the wrenching that I can do on it over my current truck. I just need to find someone and somewhere to go bashing with me.

Why don't I get into wrenching on my 'real' truck? Simple. Because it has to get me to work and home every day. That, and many parts cost as much or more than a whole RC car...

Hopefully soon I'll have my third garage bay and a little sports car to wrench on, but for now, I am more than satisfied with my RC car.

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Clyde vs Jenkins

Today Clyde met his buddy Jenkins for the first time. After a slow start, he had been napping, he started playing with Jenks. Where Jenkins trumps Clyde in energy, quickness, speed and agility, Clyde learned quick to play his only card, weight. The few times that Jenkins would slow down, Clyde would try to pin him. After around an hour of this Clyde was definitely tiring but Jenkins had a ton of energy in reserve. We had to separate them so he could chill. He slept like a rock afterwards!

Check the video...



The best part him trying to pounce from above at the 2:30 mark... Later you can see his coordination issues when he tries twice to jump the retaining wall.

Kinda fun throwing together the video. Looks like it is time for me to get a decent video recorder... Shhh, don't tell Carrie!

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New Clyde Photos

Sir Ludaclyde Donnagan of Skye

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Thinning of the Herd

My friend Jeff brought this news story to my attention today... Teen hurt whacking bullets with hammer.

Basically an eighteen year old was clamping bullets in a vise and setting them off so he could collect money for the brass casings. One ended hitting him in the gut, just a minor flesh wound.

This reminds me of my theory of the downfall of modern civilization...

We have, with science and legislation, all but made natural selection non-existent. Before we harnessed fire, made planes, trains and automobiles (those aren't pillows!), we were located on the food chain somewhere between rabbits and coyotes. Many creatures were faster, bigger, and stronger than us. Our only advantage was smarts. Back then, young Mr. Mosher, instead of 'whacking bullets', would have probably been taken down by a sabre-toothed tiger after waking it with a swat to its behind with a willow branch. Most likely many years before he was of legal voting age. Back then the smart survived and future generations benefited.

Today, with our air-bag equipped automobiles, helmet laws, speed limits, modern medicine, medi-vac helicopters, and zoos, the stupid thrive!

But alas, there are a select few that are able to buck the trend and bring back natural selection. My favorite example comes from right here, beautiful Seattle.

From the Seattle Times

A man fell from a Seattle overpass early this morning onto Interstate 5 where he was hit by two vehicles and killed, police said.

The man, who has not been identified by investigators, and another man, age 31, had been drinking and were trying to see who could hang above the interstate from the Olive Way overpass the longest, Seattle police spokeswoman Debra Brown said.

The unidentified man struggled and could not pull himself up, Brown said. The other man tried to help him, but he slipped and fell to the traffic below.

The man was hit by a semi-truck, then another vehicle, both going 60 mph, Brown said.

It is unlikely there will be any further investigation, Brown said.

Now, I have been known to toss a few back every now and then, but I have never had the urge to hang from an overpass. I typically just laugh more. ...And sleep in the garage.

This is a classic example of what I call 'thinning of the herd'. There were no innocent victims. This fella died because he was stupid, and thank God, didn't take anyone with him. Nothing makes me more angry than when an idiot ruins others lives, injuring or killing someone else in their stupidity. That is a tragedy and I find nothing humorous about that.

Let me know if you have any good examples of a 'thinning of the herd' story. Post them in the comments. Please, no Darwin Awards links. I want actual newspaper stories.

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Dog Tag

We just received Clyde's custom dog tag in the mail today and couldn't be more excited. (that is how you know life is good, you get excited over the simplest of things!)

Carrie came across it while browsing fancy collars and leashes at 3 Dirty Dawgs. I was sold on it when I saw you could get, "squirrel patrol" put on it!

 

It is made by Tuff Tagz out of an irregular shaped piece of aluminum diamond plate. My only disappointment is that we ordered a large tag which is too big for the fella right now. We'll have to store it away for a month or two until he is big enough. Boo!

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Silence!

Woo hoo! A full nights rest with no interruptions. Clyde slept the whole night without crying or whining to go out. At least not loud enough to wake us up... He has yet to have an accident in his crate too. Boy was it nice.

Right now we are working on his mouth. As a puppy he mouths everything. He has picked up every leaf on the back lawn. No big deal with that stuff but when he plays he is being a bit rough with it. The other day while I was cleaning up an 'accident' on my hands and knees, he grabbed me by my achilles... My God that hurt! He actually drew blood. It is hard because your natural reaction is to pull away from him when he does that, but when you do he sees it as play. We are yelping a 'OW!' and ignoring him for a moment. It is working for hands, but not so much for the feet...

Anyone have any tips?

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Clyde and His Water Dish

Carrie was quick with the camera when Clyde started hamming it up with his water dish.

Ahh, the carefree life of a puppy!

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Brutal!

We are still having a blast with Clyde, BUT...

I haven't had a full night sleep since he has come home. ...or a third night sleep.

Saturday night wasn't too bad. We tired him out before bed and he was out. At around 2 am he started whining so I got up and took him out. We went out to the backyard and he promptly curled up into a ball on my feet and went back to sleep outside in the light rain. I picked him up and put him back in the crate and he didn't even stir. At 4:30 am he started whining again so I took him out. This time he relieved himself. When done I could tell that he wasn't going to go down so easy this time. When back in the crate he cried, LOUD. He sounds like a cross between Luciano Pavarotti and a seagull caught in a bear trap with a bullhorn. It is amazing that a 13 lb puppy can belt it like that. Knowing that he would be fine bathroom-wise we put in earplugs. It was still loud. 10-15 of it and he tired out. I was able to sleep until 7:30 am.

Sunday when we put him to bed he cried again. For an hour, maybe longer... 2 am came around and he whined so we went out. This time he relieved himself. As in the night before after he did his 'duty', he was put back in his crate and belted a tune for us. Maybe 15 minutes again, but at 2 am when you have to be up at 5:30 for work, that may as well be an eternity. Uggghh. The good news is I slept until my alarm went off which is easily a third of Clyde volume. I can't remember if Carrie took him out between.

I was beat this morning...

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Sir Ludaclyde Donnagan of Skye

 

Here he is, our new puppy. Sir Ludaclyde Donnagan of Skye, though we will just call him Clyde. He was born March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, and came home with us today, May 5th, Cinco de Mayo. A dog of many nationalities.

I bet you are asking, "How in hell did they come up with that name?"

Very simple, I will explain...

We have known since our wedding six years ago that we wanted a dog named Clyde. This was cemented on our honeymoon while on Captain Andy's dinner cruise. We were tossing back 'Sneaky Tikis' when we met a Hawaiian crew member names Clyde. He was one cool fella. I think we have a picture somewhere of us with him. Anyways, we decided that night that we were going to name a dog after him.

The 'Luda', as in Ludacris, was tacked on to be different. Luda!

The 'Donnagan' was added to honor his being born on St. Patrick's day. It apparently means 'brown one of the hound packs'.

The 'of Skye' is in regards to the Scottish isle of Skye of where I can trace some ancestry to the MacLeod clan. That and Mom named her Sheltie 'Lady Piper of Skye' (for the same reason) and I always thought it sounded good. I wanted to continue the tradition.

Click here for the pictures! Check back for updates.

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Hand Wistle

So yesterday while I was grinding away on a drawing at work, I stopped for a second to think and blew on my fist like my hand was cold. I startled myself when it made a loud whistle.

So what did I do? I did it again! and again, and again, and again... That's the way I roll.

After a minute or two playing with my "hand whistle" decided to open my fist and try to repeat it. No such luck. I wasted another five minutes of my day blowing on my fist getting nothing. ( I tried a few time's while typing this, no luck)

Good thing I was alone that morning...

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