Al's Blog-o-Sphere

I took a ride today on the new bike before it rained. I parked across the canal in the path parking lot near the Cold Springs Rd. Bridge. I wanted to just take a short ride and check the bike out.

I spent some time today modifying my bike rack to handle the much more awkward trike. I had a hitch rack on my truck that held up to three bikes. I did some measurements and found that if I could rest the front of the bike on the rack, I could rest the rear wheel on the roof of the truck against the luggage rack.

I picked up a piece of 1″ square perforated steel tubing. I had used the same material to build a bike rack for the back bumper of my camping trailer in the past. It’s easy to work with because it has pre-drilled holes every inch and it’s like a really strong erector set. Continue Reading…

You wouldn’t be surprised to see some waterfowl along the canal, but the Geese at Widewaters and the other parks along Market Street are out of hand again this year.

While they are majestic birds and their goslings are cute, their droppings are a nuisance and their aggressive behavior can be intimidating. They stand around in droves, or packs, or technically, flocks, on the recreation path and act like they own the place. If you challenge them, they begrudgingly move, just enough to let you pass, honking as they do. And whatever you do, don’t approach their chicks! Continue Reading…

I’ve been walking a lot this spring, trying to get into shape. It’s a real battle, but I am making progress. I don’t have an accurate scale, but I’m estimating I’ve lost 15 pounds already.

I’ve been walking a route along the canal as often as I can and expanding it as I feel up to it. At first, I experienced so much pain in my legs, that I was limited as to how far I could go. It was literally a trip from park bench to park bench. But I’ve persevered and gradually, the pain has lessened to the point I am now walking a route in excess of 2.5 miles without stopping or feeling pain. I’ve also gotten to the point where I want to do it daily. In fact, I feel weird if I don’t. That’s a good thing and something I used to experience when I was cycling regularly. Continue Reading…

Yeah. It’s been that long. It’s that time of year when I get busy with another project and don’t have much time for blogging. It’s FIRST Robotics time.

I’ve been an advisor to a local High School team for six years, since my son was on the team. He graduated and is off in college, but I’m still on the team.

Every year, the students are given a new game to play and have six weeks to build a new robot to play it. We’re in the middle of that six weeks now and are well into the design and building of a robot that plays a game to be known as Breakaway. I’d try to explain the game, but here’s a video that does it better:

So, we’re building bumps and tunnels. Towers and kickers and trying to figure out how to build the perfect robot to master this game. Last year, we did pretty well, going all the way to the final field in the National – International, really – Championships in Atlanta. We won our local regional and did very well in another in Philadelphia. The challenge is to live up to our hard-earned reputation as a team and do it again. Continue Reading…