But first, I need to figure out what’s broken. When dad gave me the game a couple years ago I was told that it was working in the break room until one day it didn’t. Sounds about normal for pretty much anything that breaks. Right now when I hit the power switch I get a pale glow from the monitor but that’s as far as it gets. Since there isn’t any game play or sound I’m leaning towards a board issue. But this is all new to me.

So far I have checked all the fuses and jiggled a few wires, but not much else. This weekend I’ll see if I can get electrocuted playing with electricity.

Ms Pac-Man

Dead screen

Inside

Dad in the Lil Buzzard

I’ve started setting aside one day a week to help dad get his plane back in the air. A few years back he built the Lil Buzzard for keeping close to the house instead of flying the Musketeer. I really think that he prefers flying the smaller planes because he started out there with my uncle all them years ago..

Tornado Wreckage

He got about a year of flying around the patch in the Buzzard when the ‘tornado’ hit.. The tornado pretty much trashed the local grass strip airport. It took out a lot of old planes, and ruined quite a few good planes that were still flying.. I think the pile of scrap in front of what is left of dad’s hanger was Andy’s plane.. It was in dad’s hanger and on top of the Lil Buzzard.

2 Stroke

As you can see, there isn’t a lot left of the hanger either.. I have no idea how the plane didn’t get more damage than it did.. Since the plane needed a total strip and recover to look for bent metal tubing dad decided to beef up the engine a bit. It was running this small 2 stroke engine that was fine for taking him and one of my ’small’ cousins around the field, it had no power and was just ’slow’.. The obvious solution was to go with a larger Continental engine.

First Cut.. Bad Idea..

The weight isn’t an issue, but the new size is.. It has left us with a cowling that is far too narrow and cuts back too steeply from the front.. We are going to be building a new cowling for the plane, but we need a starting point.. So out with the jig saw and we split the cowling in half and section it about 3″ wider..

Sectioned Cowling

We didn’t get too much farther than this today.. It was 2pm and tummies were grumbling and food needed to be found.. Next weekend I think we will be sealing off the nose with thin sheet aluminum or cardboard and then making a foam shell to serve as a base for a new fiberglass cowling.. The original plan was to use a C140 or C150 nose to work from, but even junked ones are far more money than we are willing to spend what what is essentially a template that we are planning to throw away when we are done..

Just to round things out, here are a few more pics from the tornado damage at the airport.

What Hanger?

Collapsed Gear

1949 Indian Scout

There is a wee bit of a story behind this bike. My dad bought it about 5 years ago as a project for him in his retirement. We found it in the back of a gun shop and picked it up, complete (minus the speedo), for 2 grand. A couple years went and Dad didn’t have the time for the bike and I wanted to keep it around, so 2 grand later it was in my garage.

1949 Indian Scout

I got this far with it when I ran out of time. So today it got moved in to dad’s barn while we finish his plane rebuild. Once that is done, and winter settles in for real, we now have a nice father / son restoration project to get us through the winter. I’m looking forward to the build.

The Goal

Might be a fun year..

Anyway, I’ve decided that its time to drop some of this weight.. Its been a long time coming, and a long time putting it on.. I’m hoping that it won’t be a terribly long time coming off.. I started adding the weight nearly 20 years ago after a pretty horrendous car accident.. I was rear ended in an intersection and spent about six months rehabbing my back enough to where I could just go to work.. By then I had already started adding the weight..

Then I spent 5 more years sore, in pain, and managing a pizza place where pizza was the meal 3 or 4 times a day.. More pounds were added.. Then I went from standing all day to sitting all day doing programming and IT work and drinking Mt Dew.. Oh Mt. Dew.. How I love you so.. Please don’t hate me for leaving you..

So here I am at 43 and looking at how large I have gotten and deciding that it may finally be time to get serious about it..

I’ve been slowly getting ready for the new diet over the last couple weeks.. Cutting back on the Mt Dew, trying to eat without snacking, and generally getting all of the junk food out of the house so my weak will isn’t tempted by easy access to chips and salsa.. Tomorrow I start the Joy to Life program..

Joy to Life is a high protein diet that Adkins was based on.. After watching my chiropractor lose weight over the last 4 months with what looked like ease, I’ve decided to follow him in to the program.. And it is a program.. You meet with a nutritionist, you do buy some of their foods, but you also add quite a bit of your own food to the program.. The program runs in phases with phase 1 being the hardest, at least in my mind.. Its the most strict and has the least variety, but supposedly it also offers the fastest weight loss while maintaining muscle mass..

You run on phase 1 until you lose 80% of your target weight and then switch to phase 2.. This helps avoid a shock to your system and lets you slowly adjust to eating more whole foods and eating better.. “If” things go well, and I can keep from cheating the diet, I hope to get through phase 1 in about 20 weeks or so.. Then I’ll get in to phase 2 and we’ll see how things go..

Then I looked at the soup I just spilled on my shirt and it hit me. Ever since I quit the day job to live the glamorous life of an entrepreneur, my wardrobe has been modeled after Charlie Harper on Two and a Half Men. Shorts and a bowling or Hawaiian shirt, even in 10 degree weather. I just don’t go outside.

Hawaiian shirt for Mother's Day

The quest had started. Find my mom a Hawaiian shirt for Mother’s Day that she will love.

She is a green freak. Really, you should see it.. Anyway, I found this awesome lime green women’s Hawaiian shirt at Wave Shoppe. I like their shirts and they even have them in size “Fluffy” for guys like me (I might have ordered one for me while I was there, I’m just sayin’). Anyway, I think that this Mother’s Day will be awesome. Not that every day isn’t awesome, but this should surprise her. Now I need to figure out how to hide it under a pastic plant or in a jewelry box for when I give it to her.

If this doesn’t make me her favorite son I don’t know what will.

Wife is out of town.. Kid is out of town.. I finally get to relax with some decent music played loud enough that the dogs left the room..