I’ve got a bunch of open browser tabs here so it’s time to clean up.

After years of litigation, a fleet of abandoned surplus planes went to auction in Greybull, Wyoming, including a pair of KC-97 freighters (essentially a B-29 with an extra deck), a trio of C-199 Boxcars, and a pair of P2V Neptunes, as well as multiple fuselages of other models. Oh, to have the money and space to save one of those planes.

Brian started a build thread about his EV project, and our video already has more comments than any of the others I’ve posted over the last two years (sniff!) We’ve got a couple of leads on how other people have wired up their projects, and I’m currently diving into those threads to learn as much as I can.

And in musical news, Alex and Geddy from Rush announced yesterday that they’re going back out on tour ten years after the death of Neal Peart. I’m happy for them; they’re working musicians and deserve to be playing live, which they both excel at. They’ve recruited a drummer who has been playing with Jeff Beck and teaching for over ten years; she looks like she’ll be an excellent fit.

Date posted: October 7, 2025 | Filed under friends, geek, list, music | Leave a Comment »

I got Darth Haul running well enough to take her down the street for a pizza and beer run. I’m having a little issue pulling gas from the tank, and after a little roadside troubleshooting I believe there’s something in the tank clogging the pickup. I’m planning on driving her 12 miles out and back to Brian’s place on Saturday, so I’m going to take the boat tank and a length of fuel line with me for backup.

Date posted: October 2, 2025 | Filed under Travelall | Leave a Comment »

Interesting. In a week where I read that AOL has quietly shut its dial-up service down for good, we learned that Verizon will no longer support the copper phone line coming into our house. We upgraded our FIOS a couple of months ago from the original router issued to us in 2006 to a modern 300GBps unit, and soon after that our telephone handsets all started reading LINE IN USE, and a couple of days later we got no dial tone at all. A call to Verizon verified they are no longer supporting the copper cables coming into the house, so our choices were to switch over to a FIOS-based telephone or simply give it up. We chose the latter, which means the number Jen was using for 25+ years is no longer in service.

Date posted: October 2, 2025 | Filed under general | Leave a Comment »

Here’s the first video in the EV swap series. This covers just the first day: dropping the battery tray and pulling the power pack (well, lifting the car up over the power pack, which was much easier). I’ll work on the next video this week and post it next Monday.

Date posted: September 29, 2025 | Filed under friends | Leave a Comment »

I spent the majority of last week at Brian’s house working with him on his Scout EV project, which was fantastic. We got a ton of work done and are at a stopping point until we have more information from the wiring harness manufacturer and another guy who machines adapter sleeves and plates for the EV motor -> manual transmission.

I’m coming up with a checklist of stuff I have to shoot while I’m working, because I continually forget to do stuff like stop and explain what I’m doing and why. Upon assembling the footage for Monday, I realized I never had Brian walk through the history of his truck and why he’s tackling this project. Luckily we’re gathering for a workday this coming weekend and I can film him while he’s here for the next installment.

I came back Thursday night and spent a quiet Friday with Jen, which we both needed, while Finn was at a badminton game. And yesterday, while it rained off and on outside, I sat next to Finn while she caught up on homework and edited the first full day of the EV project video, which timed out at ~40 minutes. I’ve got enough footage to space these out for the next four weeks plus any truck updates I can get to this week. And at lunchtime I ran out and got my fingerprints done again and my CCL application in to the State Police, so I can be legal on the way to the range.

Date posted: September 28, 2025 | Filed under life | Leave a Comment »

I had a Spotify playlist going while I was working in Brian’s garage and this tune came up, and now it’s stuck in my head: Phantogram’s Howling at the Moon.

Date posted: September 26, 2025 | Filed under earworm, music | Leave a Comment »

I sat through the first half of my concealed carry class Wednesday, and found it informational—but somewhat repetitive. The instructor I’m learning from has taught qualification courses for forty years to cops, FBI agents and other security professionals, and knows his stuff. He knows I’m not interested in carrying for stupid reasons, and focuses on the responsibility that goes along with it. I’ll be clear: I don’t intend on wearing a handgun wherever I go. This is primarily to get ahead of the weird Maryland law loophole that says you can own a gun but can’t technically transport it to a range with just a regular HQL. Knowing the way this country is trending right now, I want to be as legally above board as I possibly can. And I intend on doing a lot of range practice with the Glock to become proficient.

On Friday I went back for the second half, which included the remainder of the class time and then an hour of range practice. He set me up with a SIG chambered in .22 and fitted with a silencer, which was a hoot to fire (not silent, but MUCH quieter than I thought it would be). Then I used my Glock 48 to shoot two-handed, then right, then left at 30 feet. He was very happy with my groups, remarking that they would pass the State Police qualification test. I did feel better shooting the Glock this time—the refresher on grip and stance was extremely helpful, and because I focused on using my right eye instead of switching from my left, I was much more successful.

He gave me some basic instruction, a training plan for proficiency at 30 feet, and a paper certification. So now I have to go back and get fingerprinted again, fill out the online form, and send everything in to the Staties.

Meanwhile, because I was up in the area, I stopped in to the mighty Andy Nelson’s for lunch on both days. God, I miss that place. The barbecue is as good as ever, and almost nothing has changed—although I was sad to read that Andy just recently left us a week ago. Godspeed, sir.

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I found a new (well, published in 2017) game to play through the Xbox Game Pass—Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands. It’s an open-world FPS where you can run around to complete missions, command a squad of three team members, and drive various vehicles. It’s got some of the same mechanics that The Division does in that you can modify weapons and earn points to upgrade gear, but it’s not as convoluted to figure out as that title. There are, of course, plenty of missions to complete, which unlock new missions at greater difficulty. It’s been fun so far, but getting used to squad-based combat is a challenge when I’ve been playing solo for so long.

Date posted: September 20, 2025 | Filed under general | Leave a Comment »

Well, that’s just great. United Healthcare, our family insurer, has ended negotiations with Johns Hopkins to renew their contract, which means that Hopkins is now considered out-of-network. According to an email from Hopkins this morning,

This is not about money or small administrative issues. United’s frequent use of pre-authorizations and care denials delays critical treatments, takes away time that Johns Hopkins doctors and nurses should be spending on patient care, and puts patients’ health at risk. We will not sign a contract that allows an insurance company to prioritize their profits over our patients’ health.

I’m much more willing to take Hopkins’ word on this than UH’s, given the stellar reputation insurance companies have these days. However, I would estimate 3/4 of our family’s current doctors are within the Hopkins system, including my cancer team. And my final checkup is scheduled for next April.

Date posted: September 16, 2025 | Filed under money | Leave a Comment »

This morning, theoretically, I am on day one of my second sabbatical at WRI. I spent the last three months cranking on a big project at work and with a few small details left, got it over the finish line (more details on that soon). I’ll have to plug in for a couple of small meetings next week, but hopefully I can step away and enjoy the next five weeks doing some personal projects and seeing family—because in the fall, things are going to get very busy again. Brian is looking at a Nissan Leaf parked in his driveway and wants help disassembling it for his electrification project, and I’m hoping I can put in a couple of solid weeks helping him with that. I’d actually like to keep working on that through the winter because I am keenly interested in that project. And as always, there are projects here around the house to tackle, and I’ve got a red truck that I wanna get on the road before the snow flies. I’m also signed up to get my concealed carry license next week, and I intend to put some time in at the range.

I will never own a watch this expensive in my life, but watching this guy disassemble, clean, and reassemble an original Rolex GMT was fascinating. This watch is gorgeous, and would be everything I would want in a vintage timepiece. That bakelite bezel is beautiful—the rich color and typography are absolutely perfect, and the wear on the whole watch is just right.

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I’m currently taking a class/working group for creative directors run by the CD at Ogilvy Canada. I found it through my social media feed and signed up for it on a whim. I was lucky to get WRI to pay for it (after 11 years, this is the first class I’ve asked them to pay for) and so far it’s been pretty good. The class size is much bigger than I was expecting, and there are a lot of people who are in the place I was after about two years at WRI—they had the title, had been doing the work, but are still trying to figure out how their role fits in at whatever agency/company they’re at. This Thursday we went through the creative brief and roughly half the class had never written or used one, which I found kind of shocking. But something I’m finding universal is the lack of any formal training or mentorship for this role; if you’re lucky you work for a CD somewhere as a design or art director and they show you the ropes. My experience involved little mentorship—I had to figure it out along the way, which has been the theme of my entire career. The class will run through most of my sabbatical but that means I’ll be able to focus on the homework better.

Date posted: September 13, 2025 | Filed under art/design, watches, WRI | Leave a Comment »

Today’s ASMR: watching this guy drop the chassis out of a Karmann Ghia, disassemble the whole thing, cut out and weld new metal in, and re-assemble. No gratuitous talking, minimal music, and a lot of the tedious stuff sped up. I think I learned more about how an air-cooled VW was made in 20 minutes than I thought was possible.

Date posted: September 11, 2025 | Filed under cars | Leave a Comment »