Adding Woodworking to the Blog

Well everyone, I have decided to add my other hobbies to this blog, as well. It will still remain "Pullin' Gs" in name, but will include woodworking and maybe chess in the future. Should keep it more lively eh? (albeit a bit watered-down for the purists)

Following is my first woodworking entry.

I'm working on a jewelry chest for my wife, based on the New Yankee Workshop design.

My latest adventure was/is the hidden drawer. It is only 1" tall. Not really tall enough for dovetails.

My initial plan was to just butt them together, glue them with epoxy, then reinforce the corners with splines. I built a jig for the router cable to cut the slots through the corners. Didn't work. It wouldn't hold.

I thought about doing a locking rabbet joint, on the suggestion of Lee Schrier from Sawmillcreek.org.

In the end, I decided to dowel it together with Dowelmax. I don't think single dowel joints are recommended by the manufacturer, but why not give 'er a try?

Well, it worked like a charm. The only caveat is that before the glue starts to set up, one has to rotate the sides by hand until they line up.

Here's the top. Kate wanted an ogee rather than the round-over Norm used.

Here's a shot of the progress so far. I need to cut out the "feet" on the bottom trim and build the hidden drawer mechanics. Oh, and attach the knobs, line the drawers, and attach the hinges.

Yep, you caught me. I didn't drill that hole deeply enough. Had to redo it. Lucily I hadn't glued it in yet.

Here's an overhead view. The parts look curved, but they're not. It is a trick of the wide angle lens at close range.

Just now, I got back up from the gar... er shop. I made it too wide. Had to saw off one of the long sides, cut down the two short sides by an inch, and tomorrow, I will re-drill and reglue it. It is tough, being a beginning woodworker.

Norm's method was rabbets and a bunch of brads. I couldn't bear to do it. Had to do something stronger, even if it may not be necessary. If I didn't, I'd think about it every time I looked at that jewelry box, which could be for the rest of my life. There is the far-off chance that if we have kids one day, one of them may break it if it isn't strong enough. Time will tell.

Hope you're not asleep. ;)

Boy, it feels good to be riding again!

Rode to the mall the other night on the FJR with the wife. It was nice, but ultra-windy. I was all over the lane.

Yesterday, I rode Burgertime to the train station. Even a short 1.6 mile commuting ride feels good after a long winter.

This weekend, it is raining and 40°F. Next week, more rain and maybe snow. But at least we got a taste. Fellow midwesterners will know my pain.

I would love to move, but it is tougher than that. Family is here, work is here, and houses just aren't selling right now. Not only that, but moving takes money too.

See you on the road!

Frigid but short ride today

Well, today my mom & wife have gone shopping, leaving me without a car. I didn't think I'd want to go anywhere, but I decided to go to CVS Pharmacy to finally upload the pix for printing from our trip to Europe last year.

That is the thing with digital photography: It is so easy to take lots of photos, that one takes hundreds of them, then either doesn't bother to filter them or takes forever to do it. So I took forever to do it and only now, 9 months later am I getting around to printing them.

So, it was either walk or take a bike. I figured this was a good opportunity to get Burgertime out and keep his battery charged up. So I went for probably a 5 mile jaunt, and ended up at CVS. Went in there, did my thing, then went to the credit union to withdraw some cash.

Seeing as how it was 27°F, (-3°C) I was pretty cold by the time I got home. Just had some chamomile tea, which helped, but my knees are still cold about an hour later.

No regrets though. Spring cannot come to Chicago soon enough. It was good to be out on two wheels again. Maybe another month of this jazz, then we'll be into the 40s pretty often..?

First rides of the season

As any midwestern motorcyclist/scooterist will know, yesterday was the first "nice" day of the season. It was 55 and sunny. There was a ton of melting snow, which made for dirty bikes, but not enough to dissuade me!

I wound up taking Burgertime out for a good ride, with my doglet Floyd in my jacket. He loves it. It was probably 20 miles. I even surprised my wife when I went to pick her up from the health club on it!

Then, I took the FJR in to have some recall work done: faulty throttle position sensor. They actually finished the work the same day. Impressive! It idles more smoothly now. I asked Kate if she wanted to come for a ride, and she said no, she doesn't like being cold. Oh well. So I went by myself for probably 40 minutes. The roads here are all jacked up from the extreme cold we've been having. Big frost heaves everywhere make for a bumpy ride. I keep the tire pressure in the FJR set for two-up riding, so it was a back-breaker of a ride. I cut it a little short.

I also changed oil in our car, a Toyota Matrix. I'm happy to have discovered Amsoil, as it means fewer oil changes are necessary. (only every 10,000 miles, with a filter change every 20,000) It also gets better fuel economy.

We were going to meet some friends at a club for some 80s dancing, but the power was out, so we came home, had some rum 'n cokes, and watched part of a bonus CD from The Sound of Music. Came to bed, played some Age of Empires on my Game Boy DS, and wound up going to bed at 1. Yikes. It was a good day.

Today, I need to clean guns and load ammo for this week's league day.

Baumgartner's, etc.

We haven't had a proper ride in quite a while. By "proper ride," I mean more than about 40 miles.

So a couple weeks ago, I decided it was time for me to do my part and lead a ride for my buddies at Sport-Touring.net. We were originally going to do a brewery tour at Huber Brewery in Monroe, WI, then have lunch at Baumgartner's, then have a nice ride up to Spring Green.

However, Huber Brewery is now Linhas Brewery, and new management has decided that they didn't get enough interest on previous Memorial Days to warrant being open this Saturday. A big thumbs-down to that!

So we had brunch at Baumgartners, then went for the ride. It was 340 miles all told, and the lovely FJR returned 41.5 mpg on the first tank, since a lot of it was at 80 mph and 43.7 mpg on the second tank, since we spent a lot of time going 50-70 mph. Kate was with me too, and was kind enough to take most of these pictures. (the ones that feature us were taken by Ben (redCBRRider at STn)

Baumgartner's is a German/Swiss style cheese store/tavern. It is the oldest surviving cheese store in Wisconsin, having been in business since the early 1930s. We tried cheese curds (brick) for the first time, and we love them. They remind Kate of the "cheese logs" that are sold in the mountain town of Zakopane, Poland. (but not quite as salty, she says) I had a Braunschweiger and brick cheese sandwich and a cup of chili, Kate had a Ruben. The Ruben wasn't that good, as they neglected to butter and toast the rye. The sandwich was dry, and I forgot to put condiments on it, even though they had Dusseldorf mustard on the table in a squeeze bottle. The chili was great, as usual. I also had a Huber Bock beer; VERY good. This store sells the whole range of beers brewed at Linhas Brewery. I bought a mixed 6-pack of Berghoff and managed to stuff it in the Givi V56 topcase. One of them leaked and spilled in my jacket liner and Kate's jeans. :(

The roads were mostly in good shape; only one tiny back road had sand all over it.

On the way home, Bob led us on roads that were even better than the ones I had picked. I'm glad we followed him.

Kate was wearing her orange/yellow ANSI Class 2 reflective vest, and I loaned my green one to Jim to bring up the rear. That way, I could tell at a glance back that we hadn't lost anyone in traffic or in the ditch at the turns. That worked out pretty well.

I tried to lead the pack at a pace such that the fastest riders wouldn't be bored in the twisty bits, and the slowest riders would catch up on the straights.

I only saw one speed trap the entire time I was in WI, which was 90% of the time. In IL, we saw 3 or 4. They're predatory here, and we have artificially low speed limits to help them get revenue for the state. They only way to have any fun is to get the hell out of town and mount a good radar detector. My Sensoro Traveller saved me on two separate occasions today. Of course, I don't speed that much on the expressways and busier highways, because that's where the cops have the easiest time. They can't be bothered to go out to some twisty back road, where the best turns are. Most people don't speed there, they speed on highways and in town.

All in all, the day cost about $70: $35 for gas, and $35 for food. Not too bad, but expensive enough that I couldn't do this all the time. At least not on an FJR. Maybe on a Ninja 250 (75 mpg) with a bag lunch... ($5)

Today, we're going out for brunch, and I'm going to honestly get working on finishing my nightstand. Maybe a beer or three later.

Thinking of selling the FJR

Well, folks, the time might be approaching. I've found that in order to really enjoy this bike, I need somewhat smooth roads, (which we don't have around here) which are twisty, (which we don't have around here) and without too many cops. (which we do have around here)

I went for one of my first solo rides of the season on it yesterday. I still had the rear tire inflated to 42 psi, since I usually ride the FJR when Kate is coming along. I should have deflated it to the recommended 36 psi, or maybe a little less. Man, it was just punishing on my back. That, and I was continually frustrated when I couldn't get past a cager in an SUV who was going 35 in a 40. (which I would normally ride at 70)

Sometimes, I go on rides and I return thinking: "Man, this is brilliant. Why would I ever want to sell this?" Other times, I'm thinking: "What a beautiful bike. Too bad my back hurts and I'm always inches away from getting arrested."

www.sport-touring.net (Region 4) has rides all the time that would take advantage of this bike's abilities. But I have to ride about 100 miles northwest in order to get there, and to be honest, it's getting old. Maybe I'm just a wimp, but with gas at its current $3.80 a gallon and 45 mpg, that is $17 in gas just to get there and back; that doesn't even count the fun riding, which would be another 200-300 miles.

Burgertime, on the other hand, gets 60 mpg most of the time, and doesn't tempt me into triple digit speeds. It is relaxing to ride, rather than exciting. Riding on rough roads in the suburbs at legal speeds is no big deal. No engine heat and no clutching in traffic. But if I sold the FJR, Kate would miss it, as it is the superior 2-up bike, and it is just so exciting.

Now, I'm getting ready to go, and can't decide which bike to take. The FJR for fun in the few twisty roads, excitement, and effortless power? Or Burgertime and just take it easy? We'll see. But one thing is for sure, if I don't start riding the FJR more, it's gone.

Still thinking of a KLR, as it seems to address all the issues. Better suspension for crappy roads, not as much power & speed to get me in trouble either.

I think I'll take Kate's advice: Keep it for at least one more year. (we may have a baby next year)

Snuck in another ride on Burgertime today

When I got out of work today, it was sunny and 52°F. I had only one thing on the mind. I got home and got Burgertime out and put at least 50 miles on him. I was freezing by the time I got home, it was only 47°F at that time.

Now, they're talking about snow again tomorrow night, as well as Thursday & Friday. Crapola.