Joey’s BlogThoughts on Life, Work, Technology, and Society
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It isn’t very often that I see a new technology that I get really really excited about. There are LOTS of things that are cool! Like the iPhone, iPad, etc…
But THIS, is the most useful, innovative, simple, awesome thing I’ve seen in a long time. I want one, not because it’s “cool” or the newest flashiest thing, but because it IS the future of recording thoughts during meetings, and studying.
It’s awesome.
Get one!
I usually don’t post failblog videos, because unless you go to failblog’s g-rated section, there is some bad stuff there.
But this one is AWESOME!
A JATO (Jet Assisted Take Off) is a rocket system that helps airplanes take off and land on shorter runways. It’s pretty AWESOME.
Here is a cool video (with background music) Of a few different ways to use the rockets. One of which is a takeoff in under 300 ft.
And… The Blue Angels “Fat Albert” jet. The impresive thing here isn’t the short take off, it’s the insane climb angle…
A C-130 with Ski’s performs a JATO on snow.
And, while we are at it. Here are some funny C-130 Air Drop Mishaps…
And… The most awesome amusement ride EVER! The fulton sky hook recovery system…
A growing hobby on You Tube is the making of short clip sitcoms using various games or toys, or parodies of other movies. There is Halo (Red Vs. Blue), Storm Trooper Office, “Hi, I’m a Marvel”, How it should have ended, and more..
Here are few I like.
Iron Man and Batman
Spider Man 3
Lord of the Rings
Episode I -- The Office Chair
Episode III -- Bat Tropper!
Episode V -- Fight! (Pretty Good Moves for lego men)
Episode VI -- The Prankster
Growing up, I always had old cars ($1000 or less), and I twice had a car with T-Tops, or a Sun Roof. If you’ve never had a car with a hole in the roof, you just don’t know what you are missing.
A few years ago, I cut a sunroof in the roof of my $250 pickup truck. It was my first experience modifying a car. While it wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t bad either. I used the lid from a large plastic rubbermaid container as the template for the sunroof. I bought a cheap skill saw from Harbor Freight, and an abrasive blade (made for cutting metal). After outlining the lid in red crayon… I ran an extension cord out my apartment window to the parking lot, and started cutting. Needless to say, I attracted some attention and weird looks.
Later, I took that same truck, and created the unfinished SHO Truck.
Now, I have this cheap $300 Saturn SL1… And, I have wanted to create a car truck for a while. I like cars, they get good gas mileage, and they handle nice. But I like trucks too. Trucks are so convenient. You buy groceries, you just toss them in the bed, and drive home. Need to move a lawn mower? No big deal, just load it in the bed and go… But the gas mileage isn’t good, and they don’t handle that great. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have one. But I don’t. I have this Saturn instead.
I was first just going to cut off the whole roof, pillars and all, and turn it into a Rat Rod convertible. But, my friend Nate came over to help me. And he had a few GREAT ideas, that have allowed me to keep the car structurally sound, and have opened a way to easily make a decent looking Saturn Truck.
Ok, I’ll stop boring you, here are the pics and some notes.
Step 1 -- Remove the head liner.
This was a piece of cake, we both just grabbed loose edges, and pulled… Nate then trimmed it up with a utility knife while I removed the gutter / trim.
Step 2 -- Remove the gutter / trim. The top side trim came off with the removal of a dozen torx screws. Piece of cake.
Step 3 -- Remove the rear window. I kind of wanted to save this, as I hadn’t decided whether to create just two large sun roofs, or a wide open cab. However, I was pretty sure we didn’t need it. I was working on the trim, when Nate started prying on the rear window… I heard the inevitable “pop” followed by the sound of glass falling.
Step 4 -- Remove broken glass from car.
Step 5 -- Mark where to cut.
When working on my truck, one of the big things I learned, was remove less than you think you will need to. It is WAY WAY harder to weld pieces back together then it is to cut them in part… On my truck, I more than once removed what I thought I needed to, only to see a much easier way of doing things later, that was now not possible due to removed material.
I decided I wanted to keep all the structural members of the roof in place for now. So, we marked where they were (we got in the car, and using a screw driver as a chisel, and a hammer, created punch marks outlining all the structural members. This produced small, but easy to see marks on the outside that showed where to cut. We then used masking tape to make a VERY clear line as to where to cut (another great idea from Nate).
Step 6 -- Check surroundings for flammable things. Once upon a time, I was careless. But, after seeing one too many YouTube videos of flaming fireballs of death… I am now much more cautious of fire hazards…
Step 7 -- Man the fire extinguisher.
I may be a crazy Red Neck, but I’m a prudent crazy red neck.
Step 8 -- CUT!!!
This is the best part… Armed with a skill saw with an abrasive blade, safety glasses, industrial ear muffs, and welding gloves, we dig in…
(More Cool pictures of sparks flying…)
(See Gallery for more…)
Step 9 -- Stand around, and stare at the amazing things you can do in 2 hours with a metal cutting saw…
Next… The metal sheet that makes the roof, is actually between 1/16″ and 1/2″ above the structural members. I am going to cut some small strips of steel from the removed roof sections, and weld the roof to the structural members all the way around. Then comes creating a way to put a cloth top over everything back to where the rear window was. After that, some more cutting and welding to minimize the steel that sits behind the seats between the two rear struts (without compromising structural integrity.) Then, cutting the trunk lid, converting it into a tail gate of sorts, and doing what I can to convert the trunk into a small truck bed. With the seats down, it is almost 6′ of room. From the back of the front seats, to the end of the trunk.
Tags: Saturn Truck
So… We got our latest bill from SRP (our electric utility company), and it was $460… An increase of $300 over last month. Needless to say, we were a little shocked.
One thing we have been doing, is leaving the pool room open to the house, and the outside door to the pool room open to the backyard, this way the dogs can move in and out. But it really hasn’t been very good. Insects fly inside, and cool air definitly escapes. I thought the pool room was acting kind of as a buffer… And it is, but not enough.
Enter the dog door… Do you know how expensive dog doors are? Not cheap. Especially for big dogs. They are fairly simple, so we decided to build one. Step 1, cut a hole in the door. We measured from about 6″ off the ground, 1″ wider then our biggest dogs max width, and about 4″ taller that the largest dogs back. This will allow them to easily move in and out. I first tried to cut the hole with the door in place, but it just wasn’t working out. So we removed the door, placed it on some lawn furniture and finished the cutting. After using the skill saw on both sides, we used a jig saw to quickly square the corners and finish up.
Once the hole was cut, I filed off the edges to make sure there were no sharp edges. Then, we re-hung the door, and made a temporary flap. The flap consists of two layers of tarp cut from used Ikea bags, weight at the bottom with a piece of steel. We will most likely place a piece of wood over the door at night to keep the bugs out.
After some brief coaxing, our dogs quickly began using the dog door, and now move in and out at their own will without us keeping the pool room open. Yay!
I found a few You Tube videos that use optical illusions to make you a little tripy… It’s kind of cool.
Check them out:
Square…
Circle….
Growing up, I never got much exposure to glue’s. My Dad was a fastener and welding man. We used glue occasionaly where nessecary (like wood glue, and contact cement). But, I never really knew the capabilities of different glues. So I started buying random glues and trying them out a few years ago. The coolest stuff I have found, is epoxy putty…
It is AWESOME stuff. Once it cures, it is incredibly strong, hard, water proof, withstands lots of pressure, impossible to break, etc… And it is SO SO easy to use. It comes in a roll (like a small pecan log, complete with white stuff inside). You cut off however much you need, and then kneed the stuff you cut off until it turns gray (The white inside stuff mixes with the blue outside stuff, and becomes gray). Then you stick it between two things, press hard, and wait about 20 minutes.
So… I used some mixed epoxy that was left over from a repair, and glued 3 quarters to the end of our driveway by the sidewalk… 
Our street gets a lot of foot and bike traffic because it is very close to the first light rail stop in Mesa. Needless to say… We get a lot of people that pause at the end of the driveway, and try to pickup the quarters… Occasionaly when we are out, people talk to us about them, and tell us how it fooled them. Anyways, one day I want to setup a motion sensitive camera and start recording people trying to get them up.
The epoxy is REALLY strong, so I don’t think they are coming up anytime soon. Infact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the only way to get them up is to chip the concrete.
Aaron Allston is one of my two favorite Author’s. Orson Scott Card is my other.
I always laugh when I read Allston’s books. He is really good at doing un-expected things. I’ve read a LOT of Star Wars books, and a lot of them are boring. They just blend together, it’s the classic good vs evil, Han and Leia are in a tough spot, and get out, or substitute Han and Chewie, or Luke and Mara, etc… But Aaron’s books always break out of the mold and give you something fresh.
My absolute favorites are the Enemy Lines series including Rebel Dream in the New Jedi Order Series. I also LOVED Wraith Squadron… Especially the part where Piggy in-advertantly blasts the captain of a ship into crispy crunchies while blwoing his way into the bridge…
After reading the Enemy Lines series, I enjoyed it SO much that I found Aaron’s email address and sent him a note. Here’s what he sent back.
At 02:07 PM 9/30/2007, Joey Novak wrote:
> I just finished reading the second Enemy Lines book. It was fantastic! I laughed when Artoo altered the food database so that the Security droid would pass Han’s blaster and Lia’s Light Saber as food and then rescued Han and Lia, and when wedge flew under the legs of the Vaugh ground based weapons platform. (A Rankat?) It was awesome!
> Thanks for the entertainment,
I’m glad you liked it. Thanks for letting me know.
== Aaron Allston
== allston@AaronAllston.com
== http://www.AaronAllston.com/