Crazy Bob's Blog

UPS = FAIL

2008-09-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

Once again UPS blows another scheduled delivery date. You would think that they could manage to make the 321 miles between Spokane, Washington and John Day, Oregon in two days.

Turns out it took them 2 days to get to Hermiston (173 miles) and will take them another day to go the remaining 148, if I'm lucky that is.

OPB TV Translators and Digital

2008-06-20T16:16:00.000-07:00

Oregon Public Broadcasting's web page for rural translator users still doesn't show any translators being converted to DTV so I decided to check up on them.

According to FCC records OPB has only gotten permits for 4 out of 40 or so translators to convert to digital. They are:

K17GK - Arlington

K23GK - Astoria

K26FQ - John Day

K28JC - Enterprise

I wonder why those four? Good to see John Day on the list but then again those permits are good for 3 years.

Red Lion Hotel vs License Plate

2008-05-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

If getting a cold while in Austria wasn't bad enough, a construction crew working at AirPark ripped off my front license plate. They must of hit it with some equipment because there is paint missing from a couple of the letters and it was bent in some. They shoved the plate into the front grill and the lower frame bracket was left dangling:

My truck was parked at the Red Lion Hotel Portland Airport which has long term parking, the area I was parked was adjacent to AirPark. The hotel called AirPark and asked them about a license plate on a red F-150 and they know about it.

I'm going to send Red Lion an invoice for the $13.30 for the new frame and $5.00 for labor and see if they have enough class to pay.

Spanish Riding School

2008-05-24T15:04:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I went to a performance of the Spanish Riding School. Even though I bought my ticket 5 weeks in advance all I could get were the shit seats 2.5 stories above the horses and along the long edge so I could only see half the performance area. If that's all you can get, don't even bother.

I would have to say I got a better show at Herrmann's Royal Lipizzan Stallions in North Hero, Vermont. Not as flashy but at least you could see the horses.

Conrad Observatory

2008-05-24T14:58:00.000-07:00

During the Quanterra Users Group meeting in Vienna we took a bus ride (actually two buses - one for highway, one for mountain climbing) up to Conrad Observatory. The area reminded me a lot of Vermont. The observatory is build into the side of the mountain for maximum stability, front view:

They must get some extreme weather, note the diamond plate shutters and doors: <

George Bush declares martial law

2008-01-20T16:44:00.000-08:00

Quicktime Movie

Retro iPhone

2007-12-27T23:10:00.000-08:00

OK, I was bored. Saw this hack someplace on the web and just thought the iPhone was too modern and needed to be brought back to earth. The old payphone dialer:

Three Day Event

2007-11-24T17:14:00.000-08:00

Actually it was a 2 day event at Tauherenikau racecourse. Dressage on Saturday then the cross country and showjumping on Sunday. I watched the last of the cross country and one round of showjumping.

Haven't been to one of those since I lived in Vermont and used to work as a fence judge.

Security Theater

2007-11-15T02:01:00.000-08:00

Saw this on Fark.com and thought it was appropriate considering my trip to New Zealand next week.

An Open Letter to All Returning Soldiers

2007-11-10T16:57:00.000-08:00

The Journal of Doubt

Is anyone else surprised that Geocities still exists?

From copyrights to political corruption

2007-10-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

Lawrence Lessig is moving his focus from intellectual property to political corruption. I wonder if there is any hope for the failed democrazy that the US has become?

Announcement

First iPhone in John Day?

2007-09-16T17:52:00.000-07:00

Hard to say. Last Tuesday I used the free unlock software to allow using my T-Mobile SIM card roaming on Unicel.

Smoke in the Air

2007-07-13T20:33:00.000-07:00

There's a fire south of here that has been pushing some smoke up our way the past few days. Makes for some interesting sunsets

BBQ Time

2007-06-27T18:38:00.000-07:00

Finally got a BBQ after 9 years. Also added some lattice to the west side to cut down on the late afternoon sun in the summer and a porch swing

The local wildlife has been making good use of the shade on the north side of the house

Belgians

2007-06-12T14:58:00.000-07:00

I've noticed some Belgian Draft horses just east of Mount Vernon over the years and finally took some pictures:

Canada Day Two

2007-06-06T22:38:00.000-07:00

Took a drive up into the mountains to the east of the valley. Quite a steep descent from the east on Highway 3, looking down at Osoyoos:

Very nice winery facility northeast of Osoyoos. Looking at the prices for the wine it's easy to understand what paid for the pool:

Osoyoos Desert Model Railroad

2007-06-05T16:53:00.000-07:00

This layout is based on Germany and has 2/3 of a mile of HO Scale track. Their web site is here.

Some derailments require some extra help to reach

Lots of Rain

2007-06-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

Made it to Penticton, British Columbia. Starting raining yesterday afternoon as I was getting into northern Washington. Lot's of thunderstorms where I stayed last night.

Took 35 minutes to get through Canadian immigration and customs. They even made me show them some pictures and movies on my laptop computer. Apparently the Canadian government has an unhealthy obsession with porn, but since I don't keep my porn on my laptop they were disappointed. Maybe someday they will figure out that Canadians don't need people to smuggle porn into their country, they can get just get it like the rest of us do, on the internet!

Train progress

2007-04-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

Have about half the track in at this point

Being able to do the power and network wiring before the roadbed has been installed has made things easier with less neck strain

Layout Progress 25 March

2007-03-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

Got the wiring of the control boards done on the station section except for the signals which I still need to build. The two trains ready to leave the Mayrhofen station:

Underneath the station section:

Model Railway Layout

2007-03-14T00:05:00.000-07:00

I started construction on a HO scale model railway layout recently. It will be very loosely based on the line that runs from Jenbach to Mayrhofen in the Tyrol region of Austria, mostly because I already have quite of bit of Austrian trains made by Roco.

The Jenbach to Mayrhofen line is actually called the Zillertalbahn and is a 760mm (30") narrow gauge line that runs DMU's (Diesel Multiple Units) and Steam excursions. Here is a picture of the Mayrhofen station in winter.

I will actually be using normal gauge trains and will eventually install catenary (overhead power) as a scenery item. Mayrhofen is a ski resort and so I will make that a winter scene. The rest of the layout will be depicted in fall colors. I will have a single track from the end of the Mayrhofen station to Jenbach where the track will split into a line that is supposed to go to Innsbruck and another heading towards Salzburg. In reality they both go into a mountain where there will be hidden holding tracks.

I decided to buy pre-cut benchwork from Sievers Benchwork:

Here's a picture of some of the benchwork assembled and the backdrop before painting:

The first track to go in is the station area:

The electronics to handle train detection, turnout (point) control, and signals need to be manufactured, that will take me a while.

Feb 2007 Test Results

2007-03-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

AFP: 2.4
βHCG: 1

Chest X-Ray:
Findings:
Heart: Within normal limits in size
Mediastinum and Hila: Normal
Lungs: No atelectasis, consolidation, or nodule.
Pleural Spaces: No effusion or pneumothorax
Bones: Normal
Other: Postoperative changes noted from previous retroperitoneal node dissection
Impression:
No plain film evidence of metastatic disease.

More Trains

2007-01-06T01:16:00.000-08:00

On friday afternoon we took the commuter trains from Masterton down to Wellington and then up to Tawa where we visited John and his Garden railway

After staying the night at Wayne's house we took the commuter up to Paraparaumu and got on a steam excursion train run by Steam, Inc. It followed the main line as far as Palmerston North and then went off to the east to cross back over to the Wairarapa. We just did the train one way but for those wanting a roundtrip they had a number of options for other activities. For instance, many got off the train at Woodville where there were buses waiting to take them to the horse races. At Masterton they replenished the coal supply (which came by truck from the west coast which seems pretty silly) and then returned to the west coast, picking the people up where they left them off earlier.

Turns out the locomotive was built the same year that I was.

Horsies!

2007-01-03T19:09:00.000-08:00

Did an hour and half horseback ride today, part of which was riding through a small river

Life's a Beach

2006-12-28T17:33:00.000-08:00

Went over to Castlepoint (south east coast of north island) today

On the way back there was a miniature horse farm in Tinui