DIY StickPic Trekking Pole Attachment

As most people do, when they come across the plastic material known as Instamorph or a dozen other trade names, I started trying to find problems that I could solve with it.

Enter the problem that I didn't even know I had.  Since Disney banned selfie sticks, I figured it was time for me to get one. But the only time I need it is for group photos while backpacking. That leads to commercial solutions, like:

The StickPic is an attachment to affix your camera mount to the tip of your trekking pole.  It's not that expensive, but my solution is so cheap it's hard to calculate.  The StickPic appears to be limited to a compression/friction fit made in several models to cover the broad range of trekking pole tips that exist.  My real inspiration came when I noticed that the StickPic is white plastic. I figured out two different ways to thread it onto my poles, but I could still make it a compression fit if that works out better.

Enjoy the video. Buy the stuff you see in it with these links and we'll all be happier.

Glow Inc. Ultra Green V10 Glow Powder 1/4 Ounce

Cascade Mountain Tech Carbon Fiber Trekking Poles

Polly Plastics Moldable Plastic Pellets. 16 oz. EZ Grip Jar

RetiCAM® Smartphone Tripod Mount XL - Metal Universal Smartphone Tripod Adapter - XL, Black

Glow in the Dark (GITD) Zipper Pulls

When life tells you to be able to see what you're doing, you need phosphorescence (yes, I spelled that right the first time without Google).  Using some 2mm rope from glorope.com, some rubber cement, and some clear 1/4" heat shrink tubing, I up-scaled my already awesome Camelbak Octane 18x into a daypack to remember.  Check out the video below to see how it's done.

How To Remove A Fence Post

Attempting to replace an aging fence can be very frustrating, but it's aggravating to get those fence posts out of the ground.  The concrete is heavy and the post is awkward.  After digging two out, by hand, with a neighbor, I needed to find a more efficient way.

This video shows the usage of a farm jack and a chain to accomplish this common Texas task.  Farm jacks are pretty cheap (try Harbor Freight), and chains are handy for lots of reasons.  Follow the instructions in the video and tailor them as you learn the right ways to implement this technique.

Or you can just pay someone to do it.

By the way, a reciprocating saw cutting the stringers off right at the post is the way to go.  Leave the sledge hammering to the younger folks.

Snakes On A (Higher) Plane

When your wife texts you that the garage door doesn't work, you would think it's just the batteries in the remote, or maybe the power's out.

But when she says it goes up a little bit then reverses, you would think it's going to be a walking stick breaking the beam of light.

And when she says there's a snake in the cable and it's keeping the door from working, you don't really think anything; 'cuz that's crazy Liz Lemon.

Snakes, why'd it have to be  snakes?

Somehow, a Texas Rat Snake decided to sneak his way into the garage and slither up the cable. And it was a big one.

He got wrapped around the pulley as the door went up, getting caught between the cable and the pulley and wreaking havoc with the door sensors. Door broken.

There will be blood.

When I finally got back from work, the entire house wanted to participate in the serpent liberation, except the woman.

When you've got an 800 pound door (I had to lift it, so don't argue with me) being held up by a tiny diameter cable, there's a lot of force that the snake's body just can't handle. Don't you feel sorry?

Trying the door a couple of times after inspecting and realizing there wasn't much I could do, I saw the snake drop onto the concrete near the puddle of snake blood. He slithered underneath the van, and that's when the wife denied the snake's stay of execution.

I was prepared to commute the sentence, since he wasn't going to last much longer, but the governor is the decider. So the boys and I worked on various ways to lethally "inject" him.

Spare me the details.

Let's suffice it to say that he's now resting peacefully in two different landfill locations. The garage door is in fine working order with a restringing of the cable, and the four foot rat snakes are 0 for 2.

When will I ever need to use Venn Diagrams?

This is a fun one. I have liked the idea of using Venns for work, but for technical people, they are typically too high-level (i.e. they summarize something obvious).

So my oldest came home and had me review his homework of Venns. Since "I'll never use this" has become a disappointing game for him, he asked if I used these today. I thought about it and said, "No". But I did mention that I have used them in the past.  He left happy.

The next morning before he went to school I had an early morning meeting, and ended up needing to review a document of product failure precipitation techniques (processes to simulate aging effects and find poor design or manufacturing errors). 

At the top there was a Venn diagram that not nearly as complicated as this one (but more proprietary):

sad face
That was not a happy morning for my son, since he's trying negotiate his way out of fancy math by saying he'll never use this stuff.

Credits:
http://kinnechapin.com/tag/listography/ for the simple Venn
http://www.collegehumor.com/article/5778557/venn-candygram for the candy Venn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Symmetrical_5-set_Venn_diagram.svg for the fancy Venn

When will I ever need to use ______ ?

xkcd.com

One of the pleasures of being an engineer parent is when your kids come home with math homework.  It's an opportunity to flex parts of your brain that haven't been exercised in decades. (Never mind the depression/anger that arises when the teacher gives the parent a bad grade.)

But it gets even better when you are able to tell them that this ridiculous concept that they're learning really can be used in real life, if they get into certain professions.

This series will be a journey of answering the question, "When will I ever need to use         ?". It will be populated by real life examples that I encounter during the course of my job and my sons' math-lete adventures.

Salomon Quest 4D GTX Backpacking Boot Review

Purchased from REI. I tried all of the hiking and backpacking boots that they had in stock and found that these and the Asolo Power Matic were the only ones that didn't rub my feet the wrong way.  (For my usage, the Asolos only added a feature of the bearing in the laces eyes that make your boot explode open when you untie and unlock the laces; nice, but not worth the extra money.)

The Salomon's were comfy right out of the box, though I did have to get the one size larger than my normal shoe size (The Asolos would have worked with my normal size 12.)

Wore these in New Mexico (see amusingly insufficient video) for a week and had no blister development. Walked and hiked about 50 miles over that week. Break-in consisted of wearing them around the house for about 4 hours while sitting at a desk and watching TV (so, really nothing).

The locking heel cam is really nice for getting the right tension on the lower and upper part of the boot.

For a simple action video with white legs, see my YouTube posting: http://youtu.be/7_CqZFZnBsE