File this under the 2011 to-do list: How to Create (and Stick to) a Realistic Budget with Mint.
This is the result of a Sunday afternoon brewing with Mr. Scout. In this photo it doesn’t look like much, but by Tuesday afternoon there was 2″ of foam at the top of the carboy and the floater valve was dancing a fermentation jig. I’ll give it two weeks and then it’s time to add sugar and bottle!
Inside Kowloon’s Walled City. This is total awesome, and scratches my obsessive-compulsive itch completely. As a grade-school student, I used to draw obsessively detailed cross-sections of secret assembly lines in underground factories, so I love the cartographic aspect of these images. Even more incredible is the story behind the Walled City, which was torn down in 1993.
January 19, 2010
October 17, 2010
2010 was a big year for you. You have grown so much in twelve months, I hardly recognize the little girl I see in pictures from last December. Beyond the inches you’ve grown, you’ve become a person who can think for yourself, ask for the things you want, and explain how you feel, which is such an amazing thing to witness. Every day you find new things to surprise me with, from words and phrases you’ve learned to your new skills in jumping, swimming, catching a ball, and funky dance moves. Watching you run through the house with a smile on your face fills me with joy, and when you fall down, get back up, dust yourself off, and keep moving, I know that you will grow to be big and strong.
March 17, 2010
October 30, 2010
I will admit there are a few things I could do without. I don’t appreciate the phrase “I can’t”, and your current habit of answering a question with a grunt instead of an affirmative or negative gives me a Boolean headache. I’d appreciate it if you used your utensils at the dinner table, and I’m afraid picking your nose will not make you popular in high school. For every one of those gripes, though, there are five things that make my heart ache with happiness.
January 30, 2010
January 3, 2010
When you were born, I had absolutely no experience with children. Babies may well have been alien parasites. I approached toddlers like plutonium because they answered to no logic I understood. Other people could reason with these creatures, but I could never communicate properly without causing some level of meltdown. As I got older my fears seemed to get worse until I began spending time with you, and I learned that I could reason with you, if I took the time to understand how. Every day has brought a new challenge for me in keeping up with you, but I’ve learned to not be afraid of you, even when you’re swinging blunt objects at sack level.
There are so many things I’ve enjoyed with you this year, like learning numbers and letters, swimming at the beach, meeting new friends, gardening, quiet afternoons reading together, playing at the playground, and napping next to you on the bed. It’s proven impossible for me to let five minutes go by without giving you a hug, a kiss, a smile, or a noisy raspberry on your tummy. Mama asks me to kiss the top of your head because I constantly leave beard rash on your cheeks, but you don’t seem to mind. And there is no better feeling in the world than to scoop you up and feel your arms wrapped around my neck—besides, maybe, making a Finn sandwich hug with Mama.
January 28, 2010
December 25, 2010
I also want to thank you for teaching me to slow down and enjoy what I’m doing, especially when I’m with you. I’m enjoying every moment we share, and I hope we can always find a way to have fun together.
Happy New Year, Finn. I love you.
Mama’s been sick for the past couple of days, so I haven’t had much spare time, but I decided to use Finn’s Friday nap to install my new speakers. I ran the included wire down the inside of the fenders and up the frame rails to the transfer case cover, then up under the dash to the Wal-Mart receiver. Everything is held together with electrical tape until I get a shrink-wrap kit and some time to tear the dash down correctly. I also still need foam baffles for the backs of the speakers and some cheapo grille covers to protect the tweeters, and I’ll use thicker wire when everything gets run permanently. But there are tunes! And those suckers are LOUD.
While I had the dash half apart, I replaced the bulbs in the two leftside gauge pods with new sockets and bulbs, which work much better. I couldn’t get the speedo pod out in time to replace those bulbs, and I still haven’t been able to reach the nuts that clamp in the switch labels (the clear plastic bars under the knobs) in order to swap those out.
Update: I did some sleuthing to figure out why my left indicator comes on and stays on when I turn the headlights on; apparently I have to do some work on grounding the light housings.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.