Category: Family & Home

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Maker Faire 2012

Hard to believe this was Maker Faire #7 already – the Bay Area’s great festival of DIY amazingness. And it was the 7th annual pilgrimage for my son and I – haven’t missed one yet! Honestly, I have to admit its specialness is diminishing with every passing year. When Maker Faire launched, it felt amazing to see that O’Reilly had tapped into this hidden wellspring of invention that had been bubbling just under the surface. Steampunk was new, Arduino was on the outskirts, and welding goggles were only owned by mechanics and obscure artists.

Ball Chain Curtain

Now, seven years later, there’s a feeling of sameness to Maker Faire, and as the festival gets more packed every year, it also becomes less dangerous, and the really exciting stuff becomes more scarce. Despite that, it’s still one of the most stimulating things you can possibly do with a kid in the Bay Area – an endless well of creativity and self-empowerment, and we’ll never stop going.

Blown away by this duct tape garden, consisting of more than 7,000 individual mini-sculptures:

Duct Tape Garden

Bummed not to see the giant Mousetrap at this year’s faire – its absence was like a big hole in the day. But Cyclecide continues to be one of our favorite parts of the day – dozens bikes hacked and chopped into every bizarre configuration imaginable, and entire carnival rides made of bike parts. Nothing at Maker Faire is more interactive, or more twisted. Also love the companion wooden bikes.

Whiskeydrome

See the Flickr set, or slideshow below

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Hot Air Ballooning, Santa Rosa

Up at 4am for an amazing day with family and friends, 1500 feet in the air above Santa Rosa with Wine Country Balloons. Something I’ve  wanted to do since I was a kid, and worth the wait.  Kind of eerie how still and quiet it is up there – since you’re always with the wind, you’ll never feel the wind while in a balloon, which is what makes it so serene. Absolutely amazing experience, and a picture perfect day for it.

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The 1500′ elevation is pretty unique – you just rocket past this height when ascending or descending in an airplane, but  getting to hang out at this medium height is magical – low enough to see everything on the ground clearly, high enough for it to be outside of your normal experience, and just a little bit scary. It’s magical for the same reason Kite Aerial Photography works so well (though the balloon is higher than most kites ever venture, you’re still well below the cloud line on most days).

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Miles thought these two burners looked like faces. He was right.

Flickr set here, or see slideshow below. I actually didn’t include a lot of shots looking down here – while mesmerizing to experience, they’re not awesome as photos – just lots of trees and grass etc. The best ones are the series of the inflation and deflation, which you can almost play as an animation.

Something I’d love to do again, but unfortunately cost-prohibitive — more of a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Finally got to check off that Bucketlist item, too.

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Lego T1 Camper Van

Most (OK, all) of the Lego models we’ve purchased over the past five years have been for my son, who carefully assembles them, keeps them pristine for about a day (max), and then disassembles them to be used as parts for his ongoing “Lego City” project, which rings his bedroom. It’s a noble effort, but as a former 1964 VW split-window bus owner, I couldn’t stand the thought of this one being taken apart. Some kind of mid-life crisis thing I guess, living out the past through my child’s eyes.

After some long delays as we raided his personal stash for missing bits, finally finished the build a few days ago. Amazing attention to detail in this model (1332 pieces), from the sink with comb and mirror to the surfing artwork on the interior, to the dashboard details, to the ridiculously accurate engine compartment and oil cooler, to the real fabric pop-top (which doesn’t really work that well, but hey, they tried).

Super-fun father/son build. Recommended.

Miles even narrated a little video tour for you:

http://youtu.be/KWef82dds7I

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Chico Wildflower / Mildflower

My introduction to distance biking happened Sunday on the 31st annual Chico Wildflower Ride, though I actually did the 65-mile “Mildflower” loop rather than the full 100-mile Wildflower. But given that my previous longest ride had been 40 miles around Wildcat Canyon, it was vigorous enough for starters (though not as intense as I had imagined it would be). I had blown it up in my head, thinking it would be one of the most physically challenging experiences of my life – but once you get into a rhythm, the miles fly by quickly.


Continue reading “Chico Wildflower / Mildflower”

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Wildcat Canyon Fail

Attempt to find a 25-mile route all the way around Wildcat Canyon pretty much failed. Turned from San Pablo Dam Road onto 24 West, then signs said I had to exit the freeway. No where to go, totally stuck. So ventured onto EBMUD land and ended up hiking with the bike three miles up a muddy path, pushing the bike. Road bike brakes got totally clogged with mud, had to take the wheel off and clean them out by hand at home. Has anyone done this? How the heck are you supposed to complete the circuit cleanly?

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Living with Nest

There’s one element of the home over which even the most design-minded homeowner has traditionally had  little control – the ugly beige  thermostat that comes bundled  with most heating/air-conditioning systems. There it is, plunked in the middle of an otherwise beautiful wall – a nondescript blob of plastic with a crummy little LCD display and Shinola for brains. But this is 2012, the age of the iPhone. We can do better!

A month ago, I was invited to become a beta tester for the amazing Nest Learning Thermostat (would love to share the access, but don’t ask – I can’t get you in :). The premise is so simple you have to wonder why no other company has tackled this niche: Make a thermostat that’s as gorgeous and intuitive to use as a smartphone, tie into the sensor revolution, build in WiFi so you can control it remotely, give it the intelligence to learn your schedule so it can optimize your energy consumption, and treat it more like a small computer (with remotely update-able software) than a piece of uninteresting functional hardware .

Continue reading “Living with Nest”

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The Big Hole (Pony Trap)

The back yard mud hole (“pony trap”) saga continues, and the hole is now several times larger than it was last week. Since it’s been raining, it’s a glorious mudfest now.

Miles started building “a pony trap” in the back yard a few days ago. He’s been working on it every chance he gets – in the rain, barefoot, whatever. Today a friend came over to help him grow it – now it’s a huge production, with ramps, tubes, and water collection systems. The back yard sacrificed itself for the good of boyhood, and M has learned to take his own showers.

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Cracked Rib

Spent the weekend in Pioneer, near Tahoe CA – just me and the boy at my parent’s house. On Sunday, M took a snowboard lesson and I took off into the hills. Three rides in, coming off a lift at the top of Cornice, a skiier turned left across my board, knocking me down. A not-uncommon thing, but I landed just … wrong and heard a rib crack. Feeling woozy, but had to traverse hard left across the mountain to meet M at the end of his lesson. Realized I could still ride if I stayed upright, didn’t jolt too much, and didn’t bend over, so went for it.

Unfortunately, the long traverse took me into some deep forest. Low snow cover meant lots of exposed logs and rocks, plus it was mogul territory and the afternoon ice didn’t make things any easier. Turned into a 15-minute trip of pain. By the time I got to the bottom it was aching like a mother.

24 hours later it’s starting to feel a bit better, but still can’t bend over to do anything (like tie shoes) and sitting down is horrible (the temporary strain of muscles pulling at the ribs). Decided not to see a doctor – they can’t do anything for cracked ribs but tell you to take it easy and maybe prescribe meds. Will have to tough this one out.

Still, a great weekend, and I’m jazzed that M enjoyed his snowboard lesson – said he liked it way better than skis! We’re destined to ride together.

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Metric Century

Less talk, more action! Just signed up to do a 65-mile (metric century) bike tour of Chico’s wildflower wilderness this April, with +Chris Tweney and whoever else wants to join. Could be up to 4,000 riders on the run.

http://www.chicovelo.org/main/century-series/26-wildflower

Though I bicycle commute daily, have never done a ride this long before. Time to start training, but my commuter bike is too heavy, and wrong riding position. Hit up a friend for advice, scoured the craigslist boards, and ended up with a 2005 LeMond Tourmalet – tightly tuned and ready to go! Got what I consider a very good deal.

Next weekend will probably see what I can do on a 20-miler.