Hi!

Hope everyone is doing well out in the land of blogs.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

iPod!

Gettin' jiggy wit it

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Posted via Skypetr, 2009-04-30 14:36:27 -0700

And now I know for sure...

I was listening to a voice message on my wireless phone this morning over speakerphone. My daughter ran up to me:

Her: "Hey, that sounds just like when Mr. Incredible listens to his message!"

Me: "I guess, that would make me Mr. Incredible then, right?"

Her: (chuckling) "No, you do not have the right hair!"

And that is the rest of the story.

-The Krunchy Krab

Another milestone....

Well, I came here to make a random post, and randomly noticed that this will be my 200th post... I'm not sure this post is worthy of being my 200th, but here goes.

I was wondering this morning... in this age of computers, PDAs, mechanical pencils, and digital voice memos, do typical school classrooms still have the classic metal, super rugged manual pencil sharpeners mounted by the door?

I'm not talking about an electric pencil sharpener, I mean the one where you could feel the steel, where you could just tell as you turned the handle that it was a finely constructed, miniature wood chipping machine. You know, the one from which emanates that pleasant aroma of freshly ground #2 pencil lead and wood? I've included some gratuitous photos below for your nostalgic viewing pleasure. If you put your nose right up to the monitor you might smell the wood.

Happy sharpening everyone!
-The Krunchy Krab

The Chanukah of Spark Plugs

1 Ford Ranger.



1 2.3L 4 Cylinder engine.



8 spark plugs on said engine.



1 quest: replace 1 spark plug per day for an eight day festival of combustion.



Day One (2/16/09):



Starting with the front plug on the intake side. It's conveniently located right next to the back of the alternator. No problem. Re-locate alternator to my workbench, pull boot, unscrew plug, gap new plug, grease it, screw it in, replace boot.



Me: 1, Spark plugs: 0



Day Two (2/17/09):



Continuing towards the back of the engine with the second plug on the intake side. I see that I could remove the PCV valve and get to this one much more easily, but I don't want to take my whole engine apart. Instead I fashion this attachment to my socket wrench:

Here's the breakdown:

3/8" socket wrench
3/8 to 1/4" adapter
1/4" socket
6 inch flexible 1/4" extension
1/4 to 3/8" adapter
3" 3/8" extension
3/8" universal swivel joint
3/4" spark plug socket

I insert this whole assembly into the maze of wires and hoses and manage to get it onto the plug. Torque applied = success! Plug removed, new plug gapped and greased, carefully snaked through everything back into the engine.

Stupid mistake #1: I left the rubber boot that holds the plug in the socket on, and now it's stuck on the plug down inside the engine. No hole leading to the plug is large enough to accomodate my hand so I can get it out of there. Result? I have to remove the PCV valve to get my hand in there to remove the boot.

Remove PCV valve, retrieve rubber boot, replace wiring boot.

Me: 2, spark plugs:0

Stay tuned tomorrow for plug #3!

-The Krunchy Krab

What a difference 3/4 of a year makes...

Remember this?

http://thekrunchykrab.blogspot.com/2008/06/fathers-day.html

I do. It's been in our freezer for a long time now... but I just put it in the refrigerator and poured myself a glass.

Yum!

-The Krunchy Krab

I'm a follower

Ok, my wife posted it, so here's mine.

Bold indicates experiences I have had
Italics indicate experiences I would like to have
Regular font indicates experiences that are not on my life to-do list.
Bold AND Italic is things I've done and have a strong desire to do again.
I also made bold ones a larger font because bold is hard to see against my background.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning - (Is there an anti-italics for this one?)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied - (This one is a trick question. Money can't satisfy)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check - (again, anti-italics needed)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt (well, done some serious assisting)
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox (haha just kidding about the italics)
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

It's that time again...

How about a picture post? I'm too lazy to make all the separate posts that would catch you up on everything, so here you go.

This is my three year old daughter. She was apparently looking for something in her play oven during quiet time, and decided to take a snooze. I'm pretty sure this wasn't intentional, although she has taken plenty of naps under her bed intentionally, so who knows?

Ok, I know what this looks like, but it's not what you think. My daughter likes to hide and surprise people when they come into a room - she will stay hidden under a blanket or something while we say, "I wonder where she is... is she under the bed? Nope!" Well, one time we tried looking in her drawers, which apparently gave her the idea of hiding in her drawer. I walked in to find her like this, she said "Daddy, I'm hiding. Tell me when Mommy is coming."

My daughter has a book about a flying house - see the book in the background. So one day she asked me to make her one out of legos. I think it came out pretty well - right down to the balloons on the wings. Of course she stuffed the pilot in upside down, but the house is only an inch deep, so there's not a lot of leg room in there. Plus it's easier to get out that way to access the refrigerators she put on the wing.

Ah the snow... Seattle received one of the best dousings of snow I've ever seen. My daughter wanted to catch some snowflakes on her tongue... not the easiest task in the world.

I had the bright idea of leaving the car outside one day so the snow built up in the wheel wells could melt off before I parked it in the garage, so it wouldn't flood my garage. Yeah. I didn't plan to get more snow that night, so by the time I pulled it in, the wheel buildup was gone, but the car was covered. Brilliant!

Of course we had to play in the snow. I let her go down the slide once with all the snow on it. After that, I was asked to shovel snow onto the slide for every trip down. I shoveled about half the backyard and redistributed the snow to the bottom of the slide.

The first batch of snow was too dry to stick together very well, so this was our first attempt at a snowman. It's about 6 inches tall. My daughter wanted it to have hair.

Well, the snow continued, and finally it was packable. This was much better. She complained that he didn't have a mouth, but I told her it was cold so he was keeping it tightly closed. That seemed to satisfy her.

Our snowman turned out better than this one at a friend's house. I think I need to spend some time with this friend to teach him some snowman making technique.

Ahh Christmas cookies. Obviously (hopefully) you've realized these were decorated by my daughter. Given the snow over Christmas, she now associates the two. It snowed again yesterday, and she ran to the window delighted, "Is it Christmas again?"

I'm going a little out of order here. This is at the Christmas tree farm - we went with our small group from church. No three year old is without her snack of course, you might also notice the candy cane clutched in my daughter's left hand.

Here's a few random shots of our newest daughter. :D

Our daughter is becoming quite the doctor, making sure that all members of the family are in good health. Not sure what she's doing with those medical scissors at this point, but at least she's not using the forceps.

Ok, those don't look particularly interesting... this is an American Gladiator night that I recently took part in. Translation: A bunch of 30-something guys make the mistake of inviting a few teenagers to a 2+ hour intense sporting event. The top photo is of a bunch of barricades set up behind which a competitor ducks while having baseballs shot at him from a pitching machine. The goal? Throw a Nerf football into a tiny net mounted up in the top of the bleachers without getting beaned.

The second photo is getting setup for team dodgeball. That was fun. We swung across the gym on a rope attempting to stick a landing on top of a pile of wrestling mats, played lacrosse, basketball, and tried to ride unicycles. No, there are not any more pictures available to the public.

One of my favorite kinds of bread to make - sesame semolina. I've started making bread more frequently again, I'm planning on trying some new recipes.

And finally, today I acquired my newest toy. This new lens is hopefully destined to become my favorite all-purpose lens. It's got image stabilization gyros so it can counteract camera shake and allow you to shoot better pictures in low light conditions. It's super sweet :D My wife got it for me for my birthday. Thanks!

Well, that ends the update for now. Hope you enjoyed being brought up to speed on the last month of my life.

-The Krunchy Krab