I wish the balloon guys at Chevy’s would go away. I just want a peaceful meal with my family, and I really don’t want someone making toy balloons for my kids during our time out together. We’re there to eat, not to see a balloon show.
Death Proof – that was Buellton, California, not Lebanon, Tennessee
Talkatalkatalk – no one does it better than Quentin Tarantino. In addition to the inimitable banter of his characters, the over the top action, especially the last 30 seconds of the movie, left me with the biggest smile in a long time. Whether it was the short grass, rolling hills or just the color of the sky, the chase scene set in Tennessee sure looked like California. Sure enough, in the credits, I could see the movie was shot in Austin, Texas and Buellton, California. I guess that fits the whole grindhouse theme of this movie since if you have a limited budget, you call the place wherever you want although the movie’s being shot in California.
Categories: Movies
Leave a comment
Summer Glau – Even a Terminator can dance
It was funny to see how the writers incorporated Summer Glau’s ballet dancing background into her role as a Terminator in the show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. It turns out that Cameron (Summer Glau’s character) has to track down a Russian who took the Turk, and it just so happens his sister is a ballet teacher…
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of the show. All the main characters work well with each other, and how can you really mess up a show where two gorgeous women kick ass and shoot guns?
Categories: TV
Leave a comment
AUW
AUW stands for All Up Weight. The acronym of the day which stands for the total weight of an rc aircraft.
For real gliders, according to this site:
All-up flying weight is the weight of the Pilot plus all the equipment including the glider. The best way to find it is to stand on the scales dressed in all your flying clothing, boots etc. and carrying your glider bag with all the equipment you take flying with you. If this is not possible, you can obtain a rough approximation by adding 15 to 20 kg to your bodyweight – 20 kg if your equipment is heavy, including reserve, back protection etc.; 15 kg if you have relatively lightweight equipment. To calculate your bodyweight in kg if you know it in stones and pounds:
Categories: RC Airplanes
Leave a comment
Update on MacBook and MacBook Pro
There were speed bumps with the MacBook and MacBook Pro today. I really like the new 2.4 GHz 15″ entry level MacBook Pro. With 2 Gb of RAM, it should be fine for all my needs.
Categories: Technology
Leave a comment
Cooked baby back ribs on the grill
I cooked two racks of baby back ribs that I bought from the farmer’s market on the grill tonight. It only took a little over an hour on low heat with the ribs between the two burners. I wish there had been more meat on the ribs since Ally, Jen and I quickly ate the two racks. Now that I know how to cook with indirect heat, I can buy more ribs or other meats to grill in the future.
Categories: Cooking
Leave a comment
Moved Silicon Valley Days blog to faster server
I moved the Silicon Valley Days blog to a faster server since the old one was such a dog in terms of posting new stuff. It was pretty easy to do with the backup plug-in and phpmyadmin.
Categories: Technology
Leave a comment
Bought a 7.62 mm ammo box
Over the weekend, I purchased a 7.62 mm ammo box from the local military surplus store. The price was only $3.99 since the box was a little bit rusty and dented. It’s the perfect size for my 12 volt charging battery, and all my other batteries. The dent is even nice because it’s a vent in case the lipo batteries ignite. They also had .50 caliber ammo boxes for $14.99, but they were a bit too big for my needs.
Categories: RC Airplanes
Leave a comment
Built GWS Pico Stick with Brushless Power from M-A-E
I built the GWS Pico Stick with Brushless Power from M-A-E, and I used Sumo Glue instead of hot melt glue where needed. The Sumo Glue tends to be a lot more stronger and pliable than the hot melt glue, and I also have more time to correct the placement of pieces. I also like how the Sumo Glue expands into gaps. The only thing I have left to do is to solder the motor to the esc and the esc to the battery connector. I hope this flies better than my FIK 100 which has nosedived with all my throws and broken two propellers. I have to tune the COG on the FIK a little bit more and make some practice throws – without the propeller. I think my next plane might be the SlowStick X since I really like the look of the balsa covered wings, and it appears to have pretty good performance.
Categories: RC Airplanes
Leave a comment
Stormy Weather
It’s been raining a lot lately with high winds. Last weekend was very mild, and I had so much fun flying an Air Hogs You Build It with Evan, I decided to order the Pico Stick kit from Model Airplane Engineering. This weekend is great for flying a kite, but the high winds would just blow a plane like the Pico Stick far away. Ally and I flew the You Build It at the local park, but it just blew away with little penetration into the wind.
If you’re going to fly a kite in the wind, make sure it’s made out of a waterproof material. We were able to easily get a $1.99 thin plastic kit into the air, and it stayed up since the plastic wouldn’t absorb any water, but this other kite made out of nylon fabric became soaked and heavy with water which made it difficult and eventually impossible to get up in the air.
Categories: Day to Day, RC Airplanes
Leave a comment