Polk Family Blog

DJ's first white belt session

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:10:00 +0000

DJ's in Tae Kwon Do along with his brother Adam. He started in the "Junior" group/classification, which means there's less time to learn and no "shadows" during testing (following the instructors). He has to learn the form and know it himself before he moves on to the next belt, which is great as he seems to be picking up on it. It gives him and Mom an opportunity to practice together during the day, and he and Adam have yet another thing in common! The first picture is a practice low block, the second is a low block actually blocking something. Go DJ!

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Twitter is silly.

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:30:00 +0000

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:27:00 +0000

It starts! It runs! It runs GREAT! Turned out to be the ignition. Either the coil or the points, I don't care which, I replaced them both with Pertronix electronic ignition and their Flamethrower coil. WOOOHOOO! Man does it run nice. Can't wait to get it on the water for a test run!

Oil pressure seemed good, but all over the place. The gauge seemed very flaky. It was above 40psi all the time but jumped around. I'll wait 'till I have it out for a while to determine whether it needs help.

The trim gauge seems busted, too. Dunno if it's the sender or the gauge, I'll figure that out later, too.

Next is hook up the radio, change the oil and take it out with someone in a tow-boat on hand in case things don't go as well as planned.

Twittering

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:35:00 +0000

I'm trying out twittering (http://www.twitter.com/danond). It's a micro-blogging service. It's blogging for people with ADHD, I think. Not sure. Seems interesting, one of those services that will spawn other, more useful services.

Somewhere along the way, someone will figure out how to make money at it, that's for sure!

It starts!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 03:31:00 +0000

The risk paid off tonight. The boat started; albeit for only long enough to verify that it's firing on all cylinders and doesn't make any horrible sounds when running. It's not getting any fuel, so that's the next issue.

I spent the night working on it with Dad, and remembered how crazy the three boys get when I don't pay enough attention to them. I'll spend more time with them tomorrow night. Now that I know it runs, I'm not feeling so frantic about working on it.

I'm thrilled it runs! Very excited to go through all the maintenance stuff and get it back on the water.

I did it again.

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 04:57:00 +0000

I bought another boat. Sold the Invader to a friend of mine who'll use it judiciously for all it has left, which if he treats it right, will be many years to come.

Here's what I picked up today:

It's a 1990 Starcraft 171S Select. It has a 220 HP 4.3 V6 in it (Inboard/Outboard). It doesn't start, which is my risk (I got it cheap). I think it's the battery or the starter (I did a compression check which came out OK). All it seems to need is a throttle cable and a battery, and some TLC. Otherwise it's ready to hit the water!

We're in Minneapolis tonight (the whole family). Came out here to buy it and spend the weekend having fun. We'll be visiting the MN zoo tomorrow along with the Mall of America, which the boys call "Lego Land".

It was a VERY long day. We went from 6AM to 11:30 PM. The kids watched Star Wars IV and V and were VERY good. Tempers got short when the navigation system locked up, but we made it OK.

I'm going to finish my vanilla vodka on the rocks and hit the sack.

Update on Mario: He's finished!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:25:00 +0000

All done! Only graphics tell the story:

Turtles, fireballs, slippery floors and plumbers

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:36:00 +0000

I sold the Space Duel cabinet to a friend who's a techie, he was excited to get it in almost-finished form. It's replacement showed up in the house the following day after an afternoon trip to Minot:

The custom "I SAID YES TO JESUS" and "JUST SAY YES TO JESUS" bumper sticker repair job has to go.

It's alive! It's dead...it'll be alive again! Srsly!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 03:02:00 +0000

The CPU board for Pac Man showed up. I repaired the wiring harness, plugged it in and WALLA! I was playing. With the new cap kit on the monitor chassis it looked beautiful. About 5 plays later, DJ was cranking away at the joystick when POP FZZZZZT CRRRAAACK PZZZZZZT and lots of smoke all came from the cabinet. DJ: "DAAAAAD!?". I unplugged it and found out a valuable lesson: Don't fix only half the monitor. The previous owner was kind enough to replace the capacitors, but not the flyback transformer. The stress on it was too much, so POOF it cracked open and let the smoke out. No worries, I found a guy in MN who is sending me a completely rebuilt chassis for some cash plus my two old ones.

Pac will live again!

Adam's first Tae Kwon Do Tournament

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 05:39:00 +0000

He'll be testing for Orange belt on Thursday!! Woohoo! This is a shot of him getting his participation/confidence medal. He got two!

Our Youtube page

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 05:35:00 +0000

Did you know we have a YouTube page? I'll embed a video for fun, but for all our vids, check out our channel!

Inside a Pac-Man Cocktail Cabinet

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:59:00 +0000

I posted pictures of the insides of a Pac-Man cocktail cabinet since I seem to not be the only one looking for reference material on these things. Note that I'm missing the coin counter (which looks like a little tin box) that typically mounted to the coin door. You can see the harness hanging in the breeze.

Click here to take a look.

Everybody's sick

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 20:06:00 +0000

Well, not at the same time, but this is getting old. First DJ got a fever, then pinkeye, then a nasty cough. He's mostly over it, but before it was gone he gave the pinkeye to Adam, but no fever and a less nasty cough. After Adam got it and was getting done, I got a fever, cough and laryngitis, which Jen picked up (Jen says this is my fault for obvious reasons). Now Mason's battling pinkeye and is on his way to fever/cough land. Ugh. This is a NASTY bug.

Jen and I were crabby at each other after supper last night, all we could do was whisper angry things. It was really ineffective so we kissed and made up. Just kidding. We'll stick to waving from a distance until this junk is gone.

Happy Gamer says Pac Man's Home!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 17:16:00 +0000

Short post, not much to say other than this is BY FAR my most sought-after game cabinet and I didn't expect to find one so soon. I traded with a guy in Texas the Wells Gardner monitor from the Space Duel cabinet for this all-original Pac Man cocktail cabinet (circa 1981). Great trade, these things are worth a ton ($1300 or so) restored. Let the restoration begin!

Wakkawakkawakka

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 04:56:00 +0000

A few people asked about the arcade systems we have so I thought I'd post a pic of the new one we just picked up this weekend from a local church (it's the left/white one). It's an Atari Space Duel cabinet (vector graphics, like Defender, pretty cool). I'm not a big fan of electronics from the early 80's so I gutted the machine and have begun selling the parts on the Internet. About 8 hours after posting the parts online the cabinet had paid for itself 3 times over. Go Internet! The other cabinet (the right/black one) is an original Ameri Darts cabinet (you "threw" darts by flinging a roller ball - boooooring). I gutted that one, had a custom marquee made and turned it into a MAME machine. The kiddos love it.

I think I'll convert the Space Duel to MAME also, and maybe run both Space Duel and Major Havoc on it and leave it at that. Here's the pictures:

Coolest. Toy. Ever.

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 04:13:00 +0000

The Air Hogs "Havoc Heli" is the coolest toy I've seen in quite a while. Weighing in at about the same as a sparrow and costing about the same as a video game, this little remote controlled helicopter really blew me away. It charges fully in about 15 minutes, and flight time is right around 10. It's body is comprised of styrofoam, it has plastic blades, and even a tiny little tail rotor with it's own motor, trimmable from the controller. The battery is a small LiPo with surprising power, and it has a neat little ultra-bright blue LED that flashes in a triple-blink pattern, just like the big boys.

My first flight with this little mosquito involved ramming it into everything around it. I didn't realize the tendency the chopper had of wanting to spin in a circle upon liftoff unless you had the throttle pegged. Also, launching it by throttling up while holding it like a paper airplane is really the way to go. It made takeoffs a no-brainer. Oh - and I suggest you read the instructions before your first flight. JUST KIDDING! As if that makes sense.

It has a built-in tendency to want to fly forward at a reasonably consistent pace, and the controller gives you left/right and throttle up/down. It takes some getting used to since it's quite susceptible to any air movement in your house at all (even the A/C vents will blow it around). Even the slightest breeze sends the Havoc in weird directions. Stopping is a problem, too. I'm used to an R/C car where reverse fixes everything. The Havoc has only left and right, so if you screw up, better bail out and drop the throttle or you're going to bump something. No worries, though. I crashed repeatedly during my first few flights and sustained no damage. It's durable, and once it's trimmed and adjusted properly, landing, takeoff and flying around the house become much more predictable and crash-free.

Don't be fooled that it's sold in the toy section at Wal-Mart. If you're into R/C stuff (or ever were) and want some cheap entertainment that'll amaze your friends, pick one of these Havoc Helis up for $30 and you'll be entertained for hours. Without some fine hand/eye control and patience, it'll turn into a pile of parts so be around to help any little kiddos learn to fly it. It's durable, but not crazy kid durable.

Words of caution: don't try to hover above your wife's head. You'll screw it up, and it'll hit her. Wives don't like it.

Words of suggestion: fly it around your cat. If your cat's like mine, he'll make really funny "I want to bite it, but it scares the !@#$ out of me" noises.

Here's a Youtube video of someone flying one around in their house. It's not nearly as loud as the video makes it seem:

Memories, memories.

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 02:45:00 +0000

This picture almost makes me want it back. That was a fun restoration. OK I don't want it back (really), but it sure was a cool ride and this guy has some skills with Photoshop. The 10mpg thing wasn't very awesome. Neither was the leaking. Or the constant tinkering requirement. Or the lack of parts. Now I'm in a bad mood again.

It's my old Scout, taken by it's current owner who lives in MA and takes it out every so often, only on Sundays, when it's between 70 and 90 degrees, and when there is no rain forecast. Ah, the life!

Boat 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 18 May 2007 04:53:00 +0000

Sold the little aluminum 15hp Lund for Darth Invader funding. It's an '82, in great shape, hull and floors are solid, good carpet, interior is 90%, wiring is.... in need of help. Not up to par as far as I'm concerned. Going to fix it this weekend, maybe see if the weather on Sunday will cooperate and allow a little floating down the river. Bimini top, 115 HP Evinrude 4 cylinder 2 cycle, 16 ft, seats 7. Plan to get it stuck on a sandbar regularly this summer and picnic on the river, do a little walleye trolling, spend weekends at the lake whenever possible.

Kenny Chesney concert

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 23:26:00 +0000

While I wait for my Youtube vids to upload, here's a few pix from the Kenny Chesney concert Jen and I went to last weekend.

There was betting going on behind us as to whether the mullet under this dude's wig was real. Nobody could tell. Eventually he got too drunk to stay at the concert.

This guy was to my immediate left. A lightweight by far. The girls he was hanging out with were just getting started by the time he decided the chair in front of him was his new buddy. I was convinced he was going to yack on my shoes. He never did. It would have been a cool story.

There was a drunk girl to Jen's right. She eventually left, too after finding out that trying to dance, drink, scream, sing, wave at Kenny and text message her girlfriends (all at the same time) while blasted drunk is not super cool. Her last text message (I was watching this circus head downhill): "if i leav th cocrt will u guy tke me hm and hld my hair i gotta puke rel bad". OK I made that up, but that would've ben a cool story, too. She left about halfway through.

Kenny is not tall, but not as short as I expected. I guess his height is a tabloid big deal or something. What he lacks in height he makes up for with a 4 story tall video setup:

Either the Fargodome doesn't do well with Kenny's sound setup, or his sound guys should be talked to. It was really hard to make out singing or individual instruments. Another bone to pick is Kenny told this odd and somewhat irrelevant story for a while about the song Sweet Home Alabama and the crowd freaked out cheering because they thought he was going to sing it, then he sang something related (I guess? - I couldn't understand him for the horrid sound). Weird moment, and the crowd reacted with a "w00t!!11! Sweet Home!! YEAH!! *muscstarts* uhh....no? um...uh..... *uncomfortablepause*.. w00t!!1!!1 Kenny is singing a different song! What is it? I dunno!! YEAAHH!!11! *screamingdrunkednessensues*".

KC sure does have energy. They played for (I think) 3 hrs, non stop. The concert was pretty good over all. I loved the light show and the drunk people.

Plastic Convoy

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 23:15:00 +0000

Wife says: No more huge toys.

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 04:01:00 +0000

In my defense, the second one was a steal of a deal. Almost brand new. And it came with a little trailer, big enough for, oh I dunno, a 2 year old named Mason? Plus the new one has more legroom. And a cool flip-down front windshield. Stop looking at me like that. I have 3 boys, ya know!?

Out of order post. About power wheels again.

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 01:47:00 +0000

The power wheels before. Taken with my cruddy cell phone camera. The color is just about spot on, though. It was purply-pink when we got it from sun fading. You can't really see it in the picture, but the wheels were so worn they had holes. The floorboards were covered in mud and gook, the dashboard had been yakked on (seriously - didn't find this out until we hit it with water), the engine compartment had been used to haul dirt, and the whole truck was covered in brown colored paint overspray. Nasty. Did I mention the "AHHHH!!! 90'S EXCESS CRAZY FLAME RANDOM WHATNOT" stickers?

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 01:36:00 +0000

Well, the boys helped take it apart, clean it and paint it. I did the final assembly. Materials used (in case you want to do the same for your kids) were: Krylon Fusion plastic paint, colors used were white and "Chili Pepper Red" (this stuff is really neat paint - if you need to paint plastic, it's the way to go!) and some basic gloss black enamel we had lying around.

That's it. The rest was removing stickers with a hair dryer, disassembling, cleaning and regreasing the gearboxes, a little elbow grease here and there and a new set of wheels from http://www.svcvaccum.com. I now officially have $100 into a normally $250 toy, and it's totally custom now. No silly stickers.

The new battery shows up mid next week!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:46:00 +0000

A little insight.

Small Scale Jeep Restoration

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:29:00 +0000

The boys begin restoration of the 1997 Jeep Wrangler Power Wheels we picked up for Adam last night. Soon to arrive: New wheels, new batteries and in the spring, a new paintjob. For now, it's teardown and cleanup time. Everybody pitched in and we tore it down to the plastic shell. Only a little elbow grease required!