How to UnMake a Makerspace build thread: Why I make things, Part 2 My Biggest Influence.

Full disclosure, I work often 7 days a week.  I scheduled this post to happen on fathers day so I could let my dad know how important what he did with me when I was younger.  Turns out that is next Sunday, but it is still on the schedule for publication.  Happy father day Bob Masek, you are a pretty great father!

I have a lot of influences in my early life.  I could go on for hours about so many memories from the early morning Saturday morning infomercial tool guy to my excitement at the sears wish book every year.

Let me give you some back ground on the legend that is Bob Masek.  He is a stubborn man.   I think he may have gotten it from his mom.  Grandma would get an idea, and you could either be on board, or be on board.  How stubborn you ask?  His CB handle was the plow.  He got it while working at Boyscout camp in upper Wisconsin. He would plow through tasks with a force that I have not ever seen paralleled.  They built things, drank beer and enjoyed the woods.  It is not that dissimilar to what happens at most maker spaces.  He went to college for mechanical engineering and took a job in Peoria IL at Caterpillar where he met my Mom at a ski club.  He worked as a young engineer until they realized that Bob Masek was a talker.  He ended up as some type of fleet sales engineer.  I never fully understood his job when I was younger.  They ended up in NH and made three little kids.  My sisters all own drills, and can change a tire so they were not ignored.  I however loved turning wrenches.  

On Saturday mornings we would go down to his workshop.  He had a workbench made of an old hollow core door with a 1/4 inch sheet of Masonite on top of it.  It had a few coats of shellac and a Craftsman machinist vice with bend handles from using cheaters on them.  It wasn't just a work holding device.  It was an anvil.  It was a bearing press.  It was a sheet metal brake.  It was a flattening die.  It seamed like every thing we did involved that vice.  a 13 inch black and white tv sat on a shelf and it played this old house, the New Yankee Workshop and American Bandstand.  Dad would always try and show how cool he was by knowing the hip music.  This system would involve messing with the antennas and adjusting v hold, h hold, ans some other knobs that I can't recall.  

I don't know if we even owned safety glasses.  When things didn't fit, we had a wide assortment of hammers, pry bars, cheaters, brass punches, and other implements of destruction.  Under the bench we had boxes of "the good chemicals you can't buy anymore," power cables, extension cords, masonry tools, paint, and other things you might file under hoarding.  Then there was his craftsman tool chest.  It had a silver frame with red drawers.  Every drawer was overloaded.  and the slides required constant maintenance.  Each tool had been hand engraved with RBM his initials.  All of my tools are initialed with RJM, just like my grandfather.  5-piece Offset (45°) Box End  was my favorite set of wrenches to use. Anytime we would run into a metric bolt it was a "communist conspiracy".  

I vividly recall going to Hammer Hardware and Osgoods Hardware.  We would go and look for the one bolt we needed.  We would go to all of the specialty shops to get car parts, vacuum parts, springs for the dishwasher at the Maytag place.  This was not a time of Amazon Prime.  It was a time of a file cabinet with every manual to everything we bought.  Parts diagrams were not a searchable document.  It required phone calls, filling out hand written order forms with checks and waiting weeks for parts to show up.  Many a time we had to give up and fabricate the replacement part or modify something to work.  As time has gone on it was no longer affordable to replace the windings on a motor in the Shop Vac, it is cheaper to replace the entire unit than to buy just the part.

I was brought as a Bohemian.  I didn't realize it at the time, but the statement was actually a slightly raciest commentary on how cheap the Czechs were.  In order to be cheap, we had to be resourceful and efficient.  I want to give a few examples of working with my dad and how he came up with creative solutions to complex or non existent problems.  

CAD- Cardboard Aided Design

We used to cut up file folders for everything.  Before I could manipulate things on a computer in Solidworks, I learned to visualize it.  We would build a scale model of each room and all the furniture.  If we wanted to rearrange the room, we would take out all of the little scale footprints and move them around by hand.  As kids, this taught us spacial reasoning and an understanding of not just the size of things, but how to think about the human factors of floor plans.

Calibrated extension cords.

My dad was stubborn and would not hook into the city sewer.  He made a scaled drawing of where the opening was but we did not own a tape measure that was long enough to measure it.  He had two extension cords that were marked off with the proper lengths.  He could have done it with string, but knew that the value of an extension cord meant it would not disappear anytime soon.

Labeled Light Switches

In my house as a child, we had a bunch of switches.  They all did something.  Every switch was labeled with an embossed brown plastic strip.  

The List

Every Saturday morning we would get a and written list with check boxes on a little yellow notepad.  Steps would be detailed, order would be based on scarcity and work center limitations.  Each kid would get one and have to complete it by the time we would go get hot dogs from the hot dog lady for lunch.  Now we all make lists when we need to get things done.  

I don't think he thought about giving me something extra when growing up.  I think he firmly believes that being able to fix things was a necessary life skill.  This is something that everyone needs, they need exposure to making.  My father gave me experience with many different vocations from breaking the cheapest taps available to stripping slotted screws and a dash rounded bolt head for flavor.  We didn't just fix the house, we built rockets.  We changed oil, rebuilt carburetors, and soldered circuit boards.  I never heard my dad say he couldn't do something.  I got my willing  ignorance of what I can do, and do it anyways from him.  He got it from his father.  

When he needed to learn something he did it with books, I have Google and YouTube. He let me break his tools, and then was nice enough to let me bring them to sears for a replacement.  He let me make mistakes.  He let me fail when I needed to.  But at the end he helped me finish the project.  From all of those many memories I get to have him looking over my shoulder shaking his head with befuddled look on every project from memories. (He isn't dead, he just lives just north of the middle of nowhere IL and can't use Skype)  I don't think it had to be my dad, it could have been my mom, a neighbor, or a teacher.  It could have been you.  If you don't have a kid, find one who needs an adult and show up.  They need someone to tell them they can do it.  If you do have a kid, teach them to change a tire, wire a lamp, and use basic power tools.  It is more important than this weeks Real Housewives of the OC or the big game.  

How to UnMake a Makerspace build thread: Why I make things, Part 1 Emotional Needs.

You know they sell that at Walmart for like 20 dollars right? 

I do, but thanks for letting me know.  I could for sure buy something close to what I want for a very small amount of money mass manufactured in china that is very similar to what I am making.  But I want it to have the USB port able to continuously deliver 2 amps and dissipate the heat. Why would I computer model, 3D print, make a custom PCB for greater cost than the off the shelf solution that takes 16 hours to do?

Because I can!

I may actually have some deeper emotional needs than just "Because I can".  In life I can't control much.  It gives me anxiety when things are out of my control.  I put great effort into understanding the world around me.  Issac Newton, the father of modern day science, watched as the entirety of human knowledge became greater than anyone man could understand as he ushered out the age of alchemy.  Since I likely won't be able to understand all of recorded human knowledge I need to grab what I can.  We all have different learning styles, my strongest tendency is towards kinesthetic learning. Specifically project based learning.

By doing a project, I retain a greater portion of the subject matter.  The hands on creates emotional connection to the parts of the project and the lessons learned.  For anyone who questions this, take a look at a broken tap or stripped screw and tell me you don't have an emotional response.  I know I do, I can still picture exactly the first tap I broke in a fighting robot.  I can remember every tap I have broken.  Each time I can also go back to the point where I had to reflect on the failure.  Did I repeat a dumb mistake, or did I fail in a new and different way?

Making satisfies some of the Human-Givens approach list of ten required emotional nourishment.

1.  Sense of competence and achievement

By finishing a project, I get a high.  It is similar to the high I get while at the gym pressing atlas stones or dead lifting.  A raw guttural response and an explosion of energy.  I have a physical manifestation of what I have learned and put into practice.   

2. Meaning and purpose — which come from being stretched in what we do and think.

It may for a short period of time, but I have a purpose, make a thing.  When I choose a project, I choose it based on pushing limits of what I have done in the past.  

3.  Privacy — opportunity to reflect and consolidate experience

I reflect on what I do as I step through the learning process.  This is an internal process usually focusing mistakes or as Gui calls them "opportunities."  The only way to avoid screwing things up is to not do anything.  My projects often have a lot of opportunities for learning.

And that about covers it for working in my basement alone.  That leaves me with a gaping opening with the rest of the list.  For most people they need a third place.  After home and work, they go to church, bowling, or a bar.  It usually will knock out the most of this list.  But I don't fit at most of these places.  I got this from Fighting robots and Crossfit.  I was working as a 3D printer Application Engineer when a friend and co worker pointed out an article in the Nashua Telegraph. Earlier in 2011 I met my wife and after our first date it was like that was how my life was always supposed to be.  To a far less degree but with the same conviction I knew what I had walked into when I entered MakeIt Labs.  I could check off some more boxes on the list.

4.  Security — safe territory and an environment which allows us to develop fully

The space was accepting of failure.  Just like at CrossfitTuff, everyone cheers you on when you are trying. They give you ideas and share experience.  They give you the one piece you need or lend you a tool.  When you say "hold my beer and watch this," more than one person offers and they film it for "Science."

5.  Attention (to give and receive it) — a form of nutrition

Kevin Smith says that one of the basic human needs is to be heard.  In order to have someone listen you need to say something.  I can tell stories of things I have done in the past, but as time goes by the minds eye's focus starts to become less clear.  Did I get pulled over at 107 or 117 MPH?  I can very clearly however tell you about the Unified Chart of Accounts for Non Profits and how it is designed to fill out the 990 tax form.  My audience may not car so much about the content every time, but they hear my passion.  On the flip side, I enjoy hearing about other peoples projects and learning.  I have a lot of experience, sometimes people become apologetic as they explain what they assume is a mundane task to me.  It never is, I am always excited to see the passion in peoples eyes as they get that eureka moment

6.  Sense of autonomy and control — having volition to make responsible choice.

Lets be serious.  Doing things is dangerous.  Walking down the street you could get hit by a 16 ton anvil falling from the sky.  The chance is remote, but it could happen.  Walking into a room with power tools is going to increase that danger by an exponential factor.  Every tool is designed to deliver energy in some type high discharge function.  A trained cyclist can output 400 watts at peak for short amounts of time.  The Plasma cutter can output 11,000 watts of power continuously for 45 minutes.  10 milliamps at 100 volts can kill a human.    That tool can kill you 110,000 times over in 5 seconds.  Ever used a bandsaw? No better tool exists to cut meat and bones in a butcher shop.  You know what we are made of? Mostly meat, some bones.  The shop is a direct representation a humans need for making good decisions.  Every injury I deal with begins with some version of the statement "I didn't think."  

On the flip side what you do also effects others.  By leaving the shop better than you found it, you are setting up the next user for success.  By leaving a mess, broken tools, or an unsafe condition, you are being selfish.  You can receive gratification by leaving things better than you found them.  

7.  Emotional intimacy — to know that at least one other person accepts us totally for who we are, “warts 'n' all”

I don't think I deal with this much at the space, Paul generally grunts and drinks beers.  That may be as good as we get.Experiences may vary on this one.

8.  Feeling part of a wider community

When I walk in, I say hello to a bunch of people.  They all know my name.  I can often go for weeks at a time and only see my wife, Dunkin Donuts employees, and Inmates.  How many of you can say that everyone at your work, customers and co workers, want for the place to do well and be better?  I may not always agree with the path, but we want the place to be better just the same.  It gives us a reason to work past our differences.  All you have to do is try not to be a jerk.  To be fair, we like them to. 

9.  Sense of status within social groupings

Maker spaces become a Meritocracy.  We have co authored a term Do-ocracy as a community.  The doers actions become louder than the "experts".   How much do I weigh your input?  How good does your R4-D5 unit replicate the original?  

I am not comfortable with excepting the world around me.  I need to make it better.  I need to know that when I am gone, what I did will be looked upon as a net positive on the balance sheet of life.

I leave you with Adam Savages talk on Why We Make.

How to UnMake a Makerspace build thread: "What do you make?"

"What do you make?"  

The TARDIS door at MPR2.

This is the first question I get asked by most people when they encounter me incidentally at work.  I meet new people on tours, or at Tag's Hardware, or just walking down the street.  My answer varies from robots to rally cars at the beginning.  I have said all kinds of answers but most of them were a lie at the time and described something I had done in the past.  One day a sweet old woman was on a tour I was giving asked me this question.  I was doing the tour in between working on some sort of infrastructure improvement.  I explained the specific project and she responded with a very succinct  "So you Make Makerspaces?"

Now when people ask me that question I have a very specific answer canned and a few sentences.  "I make Makerspaces!  I work as the facilities manager.  I make sure tools work, people are safe and things make sense".  That was true.  For a while at least.

At the end of last year I put in a bunch of orders and nothing was ordered.  It turns out we ran into a cash crunch as an organization.  I will go into this deeper in a future post and how we are fixing it.  From this with no resources to do my job, I turned my attention to why I did not have the resources to do my job.  As time progressed, I used my extra time to understand the business of Making a Makerspace.  This system can best be described like my pants and waist since I stopped working out at Crossfit.  My waste grew and I lied to myself saying that my pants still fit.  Then one day you go to buy a suit and the tailor measuring you says 53 when you are expecting 38.  It's not like I didn't have a mirror, I just didn't have enough perspective to see the change and notice the issues.

Let me make one thing very clear.  Being a not for profit does not mean running with no surplus.  It means that you are tax exempt and can't distribute dividends or profit.

We ran with greater than 90% earned income.  If we had an unexpected expense or drop in revenue for even a brief period, we would have issues weathering it.  In a December of 2013 we had both a drop in revenue, and an unexpected expense. I didn't know what was going on.

I have developed a system for when I don't know something.

Step one: Buy a book on the subject.
Step two: Read it and become an expert.
Step three: Make stuff.

I then went on a buying spree on amazon since I didn't know why we were where we were.  If the money did not make sense, lets look at that Nonprofit Bookkeeping & Accounting For Dummies This started to give me a better picture of the intricacies of Not for Profit accounting.  All of my experience was based on Cost accounting, or Throughput accounting as applied in a lean manufacturing environment.  In either case, I would use quantifiable data to make decisions to either maximize profits or reduce bottlenecks in a manufacturing process.  With a not for profit organization we start to add some additional data points.  As a not for profit, profit was not the goal, programs are the deliverable.  This was a much more qualitative measurement.  But how does this fit onto a balance sheet?

The next book I bought was The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management.  I poured over it to understand the differences between a not for profit and a for profit.  I started to look deeper at the numbers and we were running with a very low margin of revenue and social capital.

Working for Artisan's Asylum as an organization has been very hard, emotionally and mentally.  I ended up taking a position of Operations manager (Transitional Manager) after our Interim executive director stepped down.  I figured that I could just find a book that talked about how to do this. How To Do Everything had some great tips but I was in the same position as my predecessors, no one ever did the thing we were doing.  Lots of not for profits exist.  Lots of shared shop space exist.  Lots of Makerspaces exist, some with more people, some with more tools, some with more space.   None at the level Artisan's Asylum is.  Every time we do something for the first time, it is the first time it has been done to the level that we need to do it.  Gui gave three levels of projects he does, awesome, ridiculous and ludicrous.  Being that that is how we plan projects, it has been hard to translate this to GAAP.

The first thing we had to do was stop and admit we had problems.  Our staff, our board, and members took on our biggest community project to date.  We were going to fix OUR Makerspace.  One of my favorite parts of Battlebots competitions was the open build threads where people gave detailed build reports as a story.  Not much was held back.  Our story has just begun.  I want to start to chronicle some of our failures and successes for not just the Artisan's Asylum members, but for all other community workshops to learn from.  This will be a build thread and a place to document for me what has happened.

Please leave specific questions in the comments for future blog posts on topics you would like to see covered.  This is not an Asylum project and only reflects my personal views and experiences.

Winter challenger rally 07

Pulling up an old blog from myspace. 

It all started on January 20th when myself and the Russian went to winter awd driving school. We learned that when you enter a turn on snow you car should be sideways. And that is fun. While we were there at an all Subaru event there were two guys who stood out. One with an evo, and one with a Corrado. Obviously the Russian kids would show up with non Subaru's to a Subaru event. They told us of a magical event of a clandestine nature. Vermont winter challenge TSD. It has been running for like 20 years now.

The premise for the rally is a bunch of caffiened up over tired rally enthusiasts drive through the woods at unsafe speeds with no sleep for 10 hours. To add to the complication it doesn't start till 8pm. Sounds to simple eh? Lets now add in that there is no map, it is a sheet of paper with some writing comprised of miles, times, landmarks, and some more nonsensical writing which means nothing to my novice team. To make it a touch harder it is a "mildly trapped"(see note 1). Yea, didn't sound like fun yet. So they also give a "constant average speed" (see note 2). Now we are talking. to summarize what I thought I was doing before I signed up.

-driving fast at night in Vermont back road on ice and snow.

-the rest I do not know, but am looking forward to the first bulleted item.

So vlad and I sent in our paperwork. Nothing left to do now but let the realization of how unprepared we were for this experience. We figured since this is an Overnight Vermont winter challenge TSD, we should look at what we have going for us. We have both completed winter driving school. Overnight, hmm we both go to bed at 11 so this may not be in our favor. Barre, Vermont I live in Nashua(150 miles away) and vlad in Dover(even further), that doesn't seam to be good either. Winter, vlad thinks he should live in Florida and I don't like the cold. This also may not be to our advantage. TSD, having 20 days of knowledge of what a tsd was or even there existence, we were certifiable experts at this point.

Well, at this point I think I could have given a list of equipment which would be nice to have. So we figured since there was nothing else we knew that is what we should do. here is the list we came up with.

-Pi graphic, I think this shows best of what we will be doing. 2piR = us driving around in circles.

-full size spare- would be nice when out in the woods to not be a tripod with a donut. It wasn't a snow, but re92's are better then donuts.

-aluminum race jack, I hate oem jacks, and wrenches.

-breaker bar and socket, boo oem lug wrenches.

-Tow straps. I had one, and wouldn't realize why we should have two till the rally.

-spotlight, we used it a few times, but for 10 dollars at auto zone, it was worth it.

-shovel, maybe we should bring two next time.

-mittens and hat my gf made me, figured she would be happy knowing I wore her items she made for me.

-sugar free red bull, my family has a history of diabetes.

-trail mix, it makes me feel like I am on a pbs special.

-basic tool kit, so when something does break it will for sure need an obscure replacement and or tool which I did not plan for and will be stuck in the middle of nowhere.

-gas can with extra gas in case someone runs out, or we do away from town.

-jumper cables, for when the tow strap breaks and I need a last ditch effort. Make sure to get 4 gauge or higher for this reason. They also make nice exhaust hangers.

-glass cleaner and rainex, so I could see what I was doing while driving.

-new wipers, bird sap got onto the originals and tore them up.

-snow tires, re92's in the snow are about the same as trying to grip a rounded nut with an adjustable wrench.

-triangles, all the "off" equipment is there to ensure we prepared for nothing. Had we forgotten any equipment we would still be on the side of a hill, or in a cranberry bog.

-Ali G sound track. self explanatory. good way to start the night, ended with Nina Simone in the third section.

-Tire chains, again if we didn't take them, we would have needed them.

Now with an assortment of items bungee corded into the back of the wrx, we are off to the races. Well, in a week. Ruslan gave us advise of drive as fast as you can, and you will likely still be to slow.

Vlad handled the graphics from conception to installation.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robotdeath/379495152/

We wanted more input and experience then that, so we started to seek alternate sources. when we got to Synaptic 3 http://www.synaptic3.com/ on Thursday for free pizza and to check out the shop, we met a guy named Rick who gave us lots of good advise on rally experience. He gave Vlad and I a much better mental position going into the race. I also poked around, looked at Aarons RX7, talked with him and the rest of the boys, and looked at djruslans almost done wrx. My machine shop teacher used to tell me, "look at a machinist hands. If they are intact, he is a good machinist." The guys have all of their fingers and it is where I bring any project I don't think I can handle. They all gave me some good info on driving, and how to approach it mentally. At 1:30 I headed home. I got home, and got stuck on a conference call till 5am with nz so I was thrilled to the max. This would have been a great schedule to move to for the weekend had I been able to skip work Friday and didn't have to help load a robot arena on Saturday at 10am. so Friday I get up do some bs for work, go and grab another 3a 55w driving light bulb (don't do a continuity test on these bulbs with 19. volts) installed, changed oil, and did a traction dance to Mickey Thompson, god of traction. well, at this point, I have nothing to do but hope. I stay in Cambridge on Friday wake up, go help Brian load some arena, and then take off. I have at this point driven 314 miles since Friday morning. I get to Nashua, go over my check list, and start grabbing things I am kind of remembering. some things that come up that I should have done but ran out of time

-Skid plate

-more lights

-mud flaps, I keep selling sets so I never get them put on my car.

-PA system for hailing enemy ships that seam hostile.

-directions to the starting point.

-done any research on what we were actually doing.

eh, screw it, it is now or never, we leave for the rally.

We stop somewhere in Vermont for some drinks and they had no public bathrooms. luckily the tree behind the building had no lines so I utilized that. With a Vermont atlas, little Debbie products and a power bar, we were on our way. as we reached the town of bair, we turned the wrong way off of the highway. this is a great start to an event which relies heavily on navigation skills. so as we went through the center of town, we saw an Audi with some extra lights so as I would normally do in a situation like this, I pulled in front of them and asked "where are we going" they were to say the least confused. I then explained how we were up for a rally and they offered to let us follow them back to the paddock. As we watched the gas fill his car like a gentle stream of urine, we gave up and took verbal directions. We then made it to the walker Mazda, and saw the rest of the rally guys. every single car and driving team looked more prepared then I did. We went and checked in, got our packet and looked at it like a dear in headlights.

Time for tech inspection. I have inspected 100's of robots designed to destroy things so I figured I could pass a car inspection without any trouble.

from there, we had to make an edit, rally safety guys said 86 the spare gas, so I went to the gas station to fill up my tank for stage I and while there, gave the tank to someone. His wife came out of the gas station and he had to smooth things over for some reason. Anyways vlad and I have bladders like thimbles so we used the fine gas stations water closet. On the way out, I spotted this poster by the car parts section. http://www.streetdrugs.org/eShop/products/retailposter.gif

I have on occasion before talked about meth, and it's prominence in northern NH. This stereotype, I also hold for northern Maine, and northern Vermont. well, northern New England and the Midwest as a whole. The counter lady then went onto a dissertation about meth in the south, and how the trailer they rent has meth burn stains on the walls that "don't get cleaned out some with soap" She then explained how I could make meth with items in the store and how to properly distribute it. Would you say this disproves or supports my theorem on meth use in northern New England?

We roll into subway and I ask the guy for a surprise and he was confused at first then got all excited he got to have a creative outlet for all his bottled up artistic ability which he never allows to shine while confined behind a subway apron. I tell you this Italian sub was a work of art.

Some coffee, and time to go back for the drivers meeting. When there, vlad pointed out Travis Pastrana, and I heard his story of his rental outback. Nice guy, wasn't a star, but a competitor. He rembered vlad, but didn't say his name because like everyone else, Russian names are hard to say due to the addition of extra constanants, and some things I wouldn't consider letters at all. We all received our route packet, and start time of 8:24. as we opened our packet we realized the extent of our lack of preparation for this rally so we laid out a few goals that seamed reasonable for our first event. in this order

1. Don't die

2. Don't total car

3. Don't damage car

4. Pull someone out of a snow bank so purchase of tow rope will be justified.

5. Finish a stage.

we go out and sat down to look at stage notes. It has three columns, one with mileage sometimes, one with some obscure directions, and one with times and "CAS". None of these meant a damn at this point to vlad or I. We started asking for info on what stuff meant. Adams wife helped us a bit, and rallyk did as well. Thanks both for your help. as we went through the book we read every line to see if it made sense, and made corrections that were called for. If we were to be rookies again, I would have read this information first, which I recommend to all of you.

http://www.ner.org/rally/rdral/07/07rrregs_final.pdf

So now we are completely screwed, at is almost start time, and we have no idea what is going on. Lets race. 8:23:39 seconds reset trip odometer, and say goodbye to the last time this precision would actually mean anything. we head off through the calibration stage, and are about 1 percent off. so on an 80 mile rally, that is .8 miles wrong by the end. Not to worry on stage one would never make it to the 8 mile mark. as we drive through the stage on the first turn we see a mini in the snow, we couldn't push him out so I hooked up to tow him. Having a firm understanding of my inability to place, let alone win, I didn't mind loosing time. We had him out a few minutes and we were both on our way. we started to get lost driving down the wrong roads a half dozen times or so, it was now after 10pm, and no freaking idea where we were.

luckily we were joined by the corrado of doom and another oil burning jetta. as we tried to get to no where as fast as we could, ruslan somehow took his corrado from on all four wheels going in the intended direction to pointing opposite the direction of travel and on his side. as Aaron and ruslan climbed out through the sunroof, we all pushed the car over and then assessed if it would be ok to move. We needed to tow it so jetta guy was going to hook on and pull him down hill. after some evaluation of the physics involved we decided to pull him up hill in order to no allow slack to form on the tow rope, or for it to break loose and slide into my car.

after we pull him out, synaptic 3 race support fastened his oil cooler back in, and away we go. we scrubbed the stage, and got back to 14. at that point we traveled up to cialis or something, and cut across some nice logging road at what may have been a high speed. as we get to the McDonalds they give us like 6 minutes before section 2, we get some food, and take off again. we did good up until check point two, then vlad started to get sick. the map and directions made him unable to navigate so I was trying to help out, and we see a datsun fly by us at fast mph. so we and the black rs followed at a brisk pace. Luckily it got us through this stage. P and H time for a peanut butter cup, and we are ready for stage 3.

We take off, and everything just starts making sense. vlad is spot on with all of his commands, his calculations are right on, and we are off like a dress on prom night. I am unsure of what our speed or times on this section was, but we had a blast and loved every minute of it.

I think I have convinced Dawn and Heidi to do the next rally day after my birthday. Maybe we can make her cammary the e car.

here is info on that.

http://www.ner.org/rally/rdral/07/07Oldtimerflyer.pdf

Things I would bring for next time

-mores/better stop watches

-bigger button calculator

-more pencils, highlighters

-clipboard

-red headlight for vlad to read directions.

-in car camera

-finish skid plate, mud flaps, in car camera mount.

let me know anything else you have to say.

see you guys next time.

2013 Camp Sitrep

It's been a while folks.  I have been busy with life.  I am one class away from finishing a manufacturing degree.  I started a new job at Artisan's Asylum as the Facilities Manager.  It is pretty much what I was doing at MakeIt Labs just now full time.  I enjoyed working with all of my 3D printing customers but this is something new.  I spend my days trying to solve problems with people and things to help them be safe and make awesome stuff.  Some of the members projects can be seen Here, Here, Here and Here.  I have not had a chance to make anything for me yet, but soon hopefully.

On to the show.  Libby and I have been busy bees with both of our new jobs.  The Wazoo rally team who I crew for also got an unexpected shot of great news.  A partnership with Motostar Performance Tires has us going to four national events this year and the full season next year.  That means a bunch of testing and learning for the rally team and lots of driving (8,000 miles).  I can't wait to see Tim and Marc out on stage putting down some consistent times.  This spring, Libby and I went to Motorama, and made some trophies.

Plasma Cut Trophies

At work, we held a competition with Mathworks for self aware robots.

Angrybot was awesome!

More trophies, this time by a member at artisan's Fractal art.

Coolest robot award for sure.

The Iron Lady was pretty darn awesome as well.

Sergio from Mathworks diligently codes to make the computer vision system recognize color blobs.  

Show time.

Some days dozens of maple glazed bacon donuts show up at work.  

Libby and I went to a concert. Dropkick Murphies, worth it every time 

Eventually we make it to last weekend.  A friend of ours graduated and had a BBQ  some great art on the fence and this is what they came up with.


My parents are going to be in town and my father wanted to come up for a day to work on the cabin. I knew we would need to survey prior to that trip in order to make sure we have a game plan for finishing the roof over memorial day weekend.  We made the decision to go camping around 1.   We put the chainsaw into the car and grabbed snacks and a few gallons of water.  We headed to camp around 8 and got to camp around 11:30 PM.  Libby and I rocked out to Girl Talk when we got to the road.  Tree number one down.  this was about an 8 inch diameter pine.  I felt bad starting the chainsaw late at night, but we had no other way to get down the road.  We cleaned it up and headed down the road to find the second down tree in front of the parking lot.  I love my Husqvarna 445 Chain Saw it always starts right up.  I left my tools and flashlights at Artisan's so Libby and I had a single flashlight to share.  We first went up to Donna and Gordon's cabin it is a little more leaning and the door is a little harder to close.  The heater worked great, and the lights ran fine.  We went down to main camp to have a look.  We spooked a bird from it's nest in the kitchen for which we all felt guilty.  I was very scared when the bird flew at me in the dark and I had no flashlight.  Eventually we got the girls to bed and started the fire.  We means everyone but me.  I checked out our cabin and found zero damage from the winter and that the tarp stayed intact.  Hooray!  When I saw the lean to in the moonlight, something looked "off".  When we got the fire going, I realized "collapsed under snow weight" was more so the case.  I was very confident in the assembly even damaged in the unloaded state.  Libby and I had much debate over it's ability to fight gravity.  My position was if it hasn't come all the way down yet, I don't expect it to this weekend.  We finished drinking some apple cider and headed to bed eventually.

Different failures.  This side broke apart from the vertical support column

The failure happened right on the joint of the rear composite beam.  The two laminated 2x8's were just not enough to handle the snow load distributed.  The front beam did not fail, I think due to the additional 2x10 that was added the length of the beam.  The rear beam will be getting a doubled up 2x10 on the front and rear to repair this.  The gusset supports also failed on this side.  I plan to replace them with 2x4's and Lag bolts.  With any luck, we will have this guy back up and sturdy in no time next weekend.  I recommend that during winter months, we make temporary lolly columns to put in place while no one is around during the winter.  Dropping from a 16 foot span to an 8 foot span will improve the chance of not being crushed by snow much higher.

The roof is still broken in this picture.  You can see from the broken wood.

This is another view of the broken wood.

We surveyed the cabins and aside from some brush, this is the only disruptive down tree.  As tradition would require, it is blocking access to Jim's cabin.  We did not get a chance to cut it up for fear of disturbing the baby birds at the nest.

This tree fell and is likely still in the way of the path.  

we took a ride into town to try and not disturb the bird to much.  Joe and I played frisbee and both realized how old we have become.

One last important note.  The Milan Lunchenete has a new chef or something.  The potatoes were seasoned great, the eggs were not greasy and they served home made toast.

With any luck my dad and I will get the roof buttoned up next weekend and our cabin can be stay-able before summer.

My awesome new vanity plates.  

A CNC plasma cutter at work the guys made.

Dr who for my birthday.

Scrap guy at work rolls in a Unimog.

Parts from Dave Mirra's car.  He leaves them everywhere.  

Columbus day Cabin Construction

It's been a while since my last post.  I am almost half way through the semester and needed to reward myself for doing psets.  So I get to write a blog post every time I finish.  This is the photo journal of our Columbus day weekend trip.  

Friday evening Libby was not feeling well and I was tired so we decided to hold off on traveling up north till Saturday morning.  i went to pick up Libby and she rallied to head up north.  We put on some Nerdist Podcasts and headed north.  As we pulled into camp, it started to rain.  We unloaded the tools and brought everything up to the cabin.  The tarp blew off and we had some minor flooding in the corner of the cabin.  We first put the tarp back up and started to organize tools.  Joe, and Roserin  put in the two windows while I put in the door.  Libby and I now had a place to set up our tent and be protected from the elements for the night.  It was still damp in the cabin and cold. I got a load of wood so we could have a fire for the night.  Libby finally got to tell the story of getting sick from last fall to all of the campers around the camp fire.  We headed to bed not to late and tried to keep warm.  

Sunday morning we got up and headed down to the Milan Luncheonette   The best cup of coffee in Milan‽  Libby and I swung down to Berlin to pick up some screws and headed back up to camp.  I cut up some logs and loaded stacked some wood with the other campers to get us some wood for the winter.  As the sun started to set, I finally got into the mood to work on the cabin.  I headed up and got some help from the girls.  Libby and Mary hauled plywood on the roof since they are awesome.  As we were putting it up, I secured the panel with a rope so it would not fall on Libby and Mary.  I used a tree as a brake to keep the rope from flying out of my grip.  As I put tension on it, I ripped the tree out of the ground.  I flashed fear as I was worried it would drop the panel on the ladies.  We eventually got it up and Joe went up on the ladder to screw things in.  He was the star in this system.  He worked hard as we lost the sun to put up the First and last panel of the roof for the weekend.  We then finished up and pulled the tarp back over the roof.  I set our tent back up inside and got everything ready for bed.  We made dinner and enjoyed the campers until about 8:30 when Libby said she might want to go home tonight.  For those that don't know her, you need to physically drag her away from the woods and a campfire when great people are around.  So I knew "might want to go home" was code for we are leaving early, but I need you to make the decision for me.  So we packed everything up and I asked Joe and Jim to tie down the tarp in the morning.  We drove home and just in time as we got to the bottom of the hill, freezing rain started coming down.  I knew we had made the right decision to head home and we got home at around 1 AM.  

We had a great if brief trip.  We need to head up in the next few weeks to finish getting the roof buttoned up for the winter.  If anyone wants to come up for a high density trip, we could use a hand.  

Moylan's enjoy gluten free cake cooked in a home made oven.  

Fire is awesome.

Pulling up panels to the roof.  

H kid checks out the door.  She approves.  

Joe gets conned into helping put up some roof panels   

Suspenders.  I can't tell you how much I like these suspenders.  

Libby sporting her Team Masek Shirt.  

Joe and I watch as Libby and Mary do all the hard work.  

We have a door!

Joe screws down some roof.  iI looks so cool as it starts to take the shape of the rafters..  

Building Construction Inspection Department.  The proper bribes were paid.

A note on suspenders.  Masek men have tragically been plagued with what the Medical Profession call "Lackitus Buttickus"  Also known as no butt.  For years I have battled gravity and my pants.  I decided I am not going to take it anymore.  I bought Craftsman Padded Suspenders and It has not only improved my work, but also made me easier to work with.  Prior to this, I had four things that would aggravate me while working on projects.

1.  Too hot out and I am pouring perspiration (it was 50 degrees out so this was temporarily fixed for me.   

2.  I made a mistake via poor planning or lack of materials.

3.  Someone has misplaced or broken one of my tools.

4.  My pants are falling down which limits my leg mobility and frustrates me.  It also makes me uneasy when I am on a ladder because my leg mobility is limited.  Suspenders = pants at a reasonable Height   

Now, I am down two two with one additional seasonal aggravation   

More Fire