It's The Little Differences

(This is a Luann post.)

They say that small changes can sometimes have a dramatic effect. "Start saving just $10 a week when you're 25, and by the time you're 65 (thanks to the magic of compound interest), you'll be a millionaire." "Eat just 100 calories less per day, and walk for half an hour each day, and lose 3 pounds a month."

Our friend Brad needs to make a small change in his life: stop listening to TJ. I was actually really hoping that today's strip would follow up on yesterday's more directly. Brad's speech about he and Toni's relationship was exactly the sort of thing Toni needs to hear (she knows it already, but a woman never tires of hearing it). I'd envisioned today's strip picking up with a repeat of the third panel from yesterday, pulled out to a wider shot with Toni in it (maybe with Luann or Mom, since they are in the DeGroot house), underscoring that she'd heard Brad. Of course, that would resolve the whole nudist resort problem far too quickly, but from a Brad and Toni point-of-view, would have been a nice milestone.

I'm not against TJ altogether...he can be capable of some really positive things, and his smarmy, weaselly facade probably hides some real pain, but he's definitely the anti-Brad.

And Brad, the opposite of a clothing-optional resort isn't a note pad (Note to Brad: Laaaaame), it's clothes...take her shopping...make plans for New Year's and buy her a kick-ass dress for it...oh, and TELL HER the things you tell TJ. She's the one that should hear them.

At Long Last...The Cheapzuma!

(and there was much rejoicing)

Finally took some pics of the Cheapzuma. For those of you not following my every utterance with bated breath (and so far, that seems to be a club with universal membership, which is fine, I'm an introvert), the Cheapzuma is a a variant of the Podzuma, which is itself a hack of the Sonic Impact T-Amp 5066.

As you'll see in the photos, the Cheapzuma is a basic box, about 16" x 16" x 10". The height and width dimensions were pretty much dictated by the speakers, which have since ceased to be available through Parts Express. They were an OEM auto speaker for Ford, with decent stats, and the best part was they could be had for $5 apiece. Since I was making this to basically be a knock-around version of the Podzuma, I wasn't particularly worried about audiophile quality. All it had to do was throw out some sound on the cheap. Since they're automotive speakers, the crossovers were built in, so all I had to do was wire them to the outputs of the T-Amp board.

I originally started with a 12V supply provided by D-cell batteries, and the battery box design was predicated around that. The D-cells worked okay, but I really liked the rechargeable nature of the Podzuma, so I eventually added the charging circuit from the Podzuma specs and two slim 6V sealed lead-acid batteries wired in series.

The case is 1/2" MDF and basic nail/glue edge joinery. I did route 1/16" channels at all of the join lines (which is why the ruler shots show slightly less than 16" dimensions) to aid in sealing the box. Another "improvement" over the original Podzuma design was the access covers for the battery and electronics boxes. I routed 1/16" channels for the access plates (which are just the aluminum tops to basic Radio Shack project boxes (2x4x1 and 5x7x3, I think), and put in tee nuts so that the plates could be easily removed without chewing up the screwholes in the MDF (the routed corner reliefs, recessed panel mounts and tee nuts are techniques I'm using on the Podzuma rebox as well). For aesthetics, I rounded over the edges, added a gate handle from Home Depot to lug it around, and "painted" it with Plasti-Dip.

So really, for about $60 in parts originally, and about $25 in additional parts to convert from D-cells to rechargeable SLAs, I came it at about 1/3 the cost of the Podzuma build. No, it's not as loud, and it doesn't look as cool, but it does everything I need it to, so I'm calling it a success. Plus, it served as a testbed for really getting the most out of the $200+ in parts I have invested in the Podzuma build when I get around to finishing that rebox.

And now, for the photos:

The Cheapzuma in all its glory. Well, glory is a strong word, but it's functional, and I still like the X arrangement of the speakers (probably not the best arrangement from an audio point of view, but we're not going for subtle here).

A bit under 16" wide. Trivia: That chair is part of a dining room set that's exactly the same as the one used in Talladega Nights during the "favorite Jesus/on you like a spider-monkey" scene. It's from Rooms To Go.

A bit under 16" tall (I apologize for the blur). One of my biggest beefs with the original Podzuma plans was a complete lack of measurements for anything other than the overall height/width/length. The size and shape of the battery and electronics boxes were apparently left as an exercise to the builder. When I detail the Podzuma rebuild, you can bet I'll post complete dimensions.

10 inches deep. Note that the actual interior volume is less, because of the 1" recess of the baffle, and the battery and electronics boxes. Also, I retained the left/right separation of the original Podzuma with a vertical divider between the two pairs of speakers, so each side has its own (pretty much identically-sized) volume.

The back. As you can see, I use this a good bit, so the exposed spots are where the unit rubs against the luggage carrier I use to wheel it around to tournaments. That's the only downside about Plasti-Dip over MDF...the smoothness of the MDF doesn't give the Plasti-Dip much to hold onto.

The battery box, the series-wired SLAs and, in the upper right, the charging circuit.

The power/volume knob from the T-Amp, the power LED and the input jack.

Her Favorite Color Is Chrome

Like the song says, Toni Daytona's not your average pretty girl.

Now, I'm not the car geek in my family. Brother D gets that honor, hands down. He's a mechanic for a living, used to race stock cars, and I don't think his fingernails have been clean since about 1984 or so. But I like cars. I like fast cars. And I like women who like cars. Specifically, I like women who understand my yearning for specific cars...like a '69 Camaro, or the '09 Camaro. Owning both would rock, wouldn't it? The new Challenger is a little slice of alright too...I saw one in person at a local minor-league baseball game. Sweet.

L, who I've talked (obsessed) about here before is a car girl. Not in a Toni Daytona sense, so it's not like I could stop taking my car to professional mechanics if I married her, but she gets me. And she'd look sweet behind the wheel of a convertible muscle car, or snuggled up beside me while I drive.

And the dorky grin (best showcased in the last panel here) just proves that Brad is 100% with smit. So if she's just teasing him, it's gonna be a horrendous crash, Flash. I just hope his male ego isn't going to get in the way. It's cool that she knows a lot about high-performance cars, but if she turns out to know more than he does, he might start feeling emasculated, and that'll be trouble.

It's interesting how Evans has managed to, at least in me, turn Toni from a probably-shallow-trophy-girlfriend into a sympathetic character. It's also a little odd that if Brad and Toni don't work, I'm thinking it'll be Brad's fault. Weird. And kudos to Greg Evans for fleshing the characters out enough to make that possible.

Like Stroking on Nail Polish or Slipping Into Nylons...

Toni Daytona could give me driving lessons any day of the week.

It wasn't until today's strip that I felt a great need to imagine a voice for Toni...now, I'm obsessed...I'm thinking something close to that Kate Walsh commercial for Cadillac where she's extolling the virtues of nav systems and sapele wood accents...maybe just a shade higher pitch.

Rowwwwrrrr.

Fat People, Unclench Already...

Okay, so I'm like weeks late to the party, but I finally took Daughter to see WALL-E last night. If any of the 12 of you who read this haven't seen it, just skip this post. I don't think I'm going to give away anything, but really, the plot isn't why you go see this film.

ObOMG: The graphics are freaking amazing! The tracking shots as WALL-E is racing back and forth from his home are gorgeous, and the sheer amount of STUFF going on in each frame is ridiculous.

ObApple: EVE is what you get when you let Apple design a robot.

Alright, now to the bee in my bonnet. I've had people tell me this is a very political movie. I've also read blogs and "open letters" from fat people who think the movie is targeting them as the butt of the joke. (Full disclosure: I'm fat. I weigh 340 lb on a 6'1" frame, and even though a lot of is muscle, a lot of it isn't. I could lose about 100 lb.)

So, in a future 800 or so years from now, the Earth is totally polluted. Oh, by the way, apparently, Earth was also pretty much taken over by one retail chain (Buy-N-Large), and American culture is 100% dominant, at least aboard the Axiom. It should be noted that the Axiom is just one of many space-going habitats that mankind has escaped Earth in, so maybe the NorAm-centric nature is because the Axiom launched from America (apparently, New York City). Buy-N-Large has long since managed to pervade every aspect of human life, even before the space arks take off. This only gets worse on the Buy-N-Large-owned arks, where robots do EVERYTHING for humans, and every aspect of life is pretty much dictated by the ubiquitous electronic signage throughout the ship. As you might imagine, a human race which doesn't have to work for anything, doesn't. As 700 years pass, people become sedentary and fat, tooling around on their hover-chairs, catered to by robots, and avoiding pretty much everything but consuming. Ironically, the ads for the space-arks (one of which is conveniently still operating on Earth after 700+ years) depicted a very active shipboard lifestyle, with the hoverchairs originally meant to enable the less-physically-able to enjoy shipboard activities.

(Note: I have some personal experience here. Everyone knows the Wii is this wonderful little machine that lets you get up off the couch and be active while you play video games. Well, my friends and I have managed to discover how to use the Wii Remotes from the safety and comfort of the couch. We can play a full 9 holes of Wii Sports golf with the only energy expended being the occasional flick of the wrist. But I do stand up to play Guitar Hero.)

Yes, the haplessness of the Axiomites is played for laughs, but I didn't get the sense it was out of mean-spiritedness. I think everyone can agree that a life that sedentary is NOT healthy, by any definition of the word. If you happen to be fat right now, and you're living a life that sedentary, then maybe you can take offense to the movie. But if you do even the smallest things for yourself, THIS MOVIE WAS NOT ABOUT YOU. It's only when the introduction of WALL-E (and the discoveries he unwittingly makes) adds a little chaos to the ship that a handful of these sheeple start thinking for themselves. And once these people shake off the stupor induced by having their every whim instantly catered to, they start becoming human again. The man and the woman who get "woken up" by WALL-E find one another, and begin what appears to be a romance. Never once are we given the idea that these fat, sedentary people are ugly or unworthy of love, they're simply blind to the possibility. (Now, this does raise the question of where the babies in the nursery have been coming from, but being a Disney flick, all the "love" is pure, platonic, and at the hand-holding, spark-generating level.)

Another minor nit. In the movie, the Earth is covered with trash, near-Earth space is littered with what appears to be millions of satellites, and apparently the whole planet became uninhabitable. The amount of trash seems far out of proportion to the amount of raw material that the Earth can produce. Yes, yes, I understand, hyperbole. What I don't understand is if the human race of the movie can produce enough space arks to evacuate the entire planet (all 6 billion or so, unless there's been an unmentioned apocalypse sometime before the exodus), why can't they just load up a bunch of these arks with garbage and pilot them into the sun? Apparently, resources other than arable land are not lacking in this version of Earth. Each of the arks has the ability to sustain the lives of thousands of people for hundreds of years, not to mention the resources required to build the arks, and the resources represented by all that trash.

Litter bad. Recycling good. Sedentary bad. Exercise good. Retail bad. Farming good. Love is universal. Holding hands is the nec plus ultra of love, at least for robots. Dancing is double-super-plus-good, particularly when unencumbered by gravity. And little white Apple robots (hmmm...Eve tempted Adam with an apple...), when not being watched by supervisor robots, will indulge in egrgious wastes of power just to do a little supersonic jetting over a trashed landscape before getting to work. Oh, and a robot that can appreciate "Hello, Dolly!" and fall in love with a little white iBot can be surprisingly practical when it comes to the demise of its fellow WALL-Es (dead comrades = spare parts). Interesting set of lessons, if you choose to view it as a movie with lessons, but I chose to be awed by the spectacle, and touched by the love stories.

Your own mileage may vary.

My Giveadamn is Busted

I am sooooo frakking tired of...

...everything.

Self-Reflection? or Self-Sabotage?

If you're looking for an update on the T-Amp rebox/Podzuma, or for commentary on "Luann", I hate to disappoint...but I have something on my mind, and I need to exorcise it, even if no one reads it.

In about 29 days, I'm going to test for my Recommended black belt, and about 17 days after that, my Decided (1st degree) black belt in Songahm Tae Kwon Do. If I go forward with it, I'll be testing for my black belt at the same time as my brother and daughter. I've spent the past nearly-a-year learning the form I'll test with, and I attend on average about 8 classes a week. Most importantly to some, I spend nearly $300 a month for classes for my daughter and I.

So, you're thinking to yourself, why the "if"? You've paid for this in your sweat, your effort, your money, and even your bones. You've certainly earned a reward for that! And I have, but is the right reward a black belt? Would I really be accepting a bullshit belt?

Now, I know I've learned a lot in the past two years, and I'm much more physically capable than I used to be. There's no reason to believe I can't and won't continue to improve. But, my kicks (at least, the ones I can even do) are just barely above belt level...there is almost no chance that I'll earn points in a sparring match...and my technique looks every bit as bad as you'd expect from a 342-pound, 6'1" tall, short-legged-and-long-torsoed man.

Am I black belt material? Even in the ATA? I mean, I've seen some abysmal practitioners get awarded their belts over the past two years. I've seen some phenomenal practitioners get theirs. I've literally seen women whose axe-kicks wouldn't threaten anything taller than a springer spaniel pass, with a cheering section, no less. I've seen Juniors get "No Change" with better forms and sparring technique than the rat-kicker. I have no doubt that my fellow students (such as would attend) would cheer me on, proud of my perseverance, if slightly embarrassed for me about my skill. I could probably even manage to feel like I'd earned it, at the time.

But what would I have earned? Would I really feel like I was on a par with people like B, or B, or J, or even J or G (who are both technically "behind" me)? I'm certainly no threat at tournaments, not even at the events I think I'm decent at, like forms and weapons, and I doubt it'll get better once I join the 40-49 Men's Black Belt rings.

I want my black belt to mean something. I want it to be indicative of a certain level of skill and prowess, not just a milestone reached by shedding enough sweat and forking over enough cash.

My friend S seemed very impressed that T and I are about to earn our black belts, and I could tell he envisioned a lot higher skill level than I'm likely to gain in the next 45 or so days. When I'm honest with myself, I envisioned being more capable myself, so I feel kinda like a fraud.

Of course, it may be that Senior Master S and Mrs. S (the school owners) score leniently on people who only want to earn up to black belt and go no further, and heaven knows they don't consider color belt students to be worth their time (or for that matter, anyone who's not fast-tracking to a championship), but I think it sullies the belt. We try to teach our Juniors and Tiny Tigers to respect their belts...that their belt is a symbol of their hard work and skill. We reinforce that by having them line up by rank. Higher rank belts are supposed to be higher-caliber practitioners, more worthy of respect. Supposed to be. But even our black belt Juniors half-ass their way through things, seemingly marking time, just waiting for this part of their daily routine to be over.

I'm sure I have other tangents to go off on, but that covers most of it. And I still don't know what I'm going to do after August 19. Am I going to bust my ass to get 24 classes in 17 days, and test on September 5? Or am I going to wait to test until I feel like I've earned the belt I'd be getting through skill, rather than simply not giving up? And if I do sit out the testing, am I simply holding myself to a higher standard, or am I insulting my friends and fellow students by implying that they should hold themselves to that same standard?

Thanks for letting me vent. Obviously, this space is where the final result will be found.

Rules For Traffic

1. Clear the frakkin' intersection! Seriously, if you're turning, and you've got the protected arrow, get your happy ass through the intersection and finish the turn. The rest of us are waiting. If you're waiting for a break in oncoming traffic to sneak through unprotected, then do it. If you're gonna be a bear, be a grizzly. And for cripe's sake, don't STOP in the middle of your turn!
2. If you're in a right-on-red state, and you're at a multi-lane intersection, and you're planning to go straight, get out of the right-hand lane. Those of use that ARE turning right don't want to be caught behind your mini-maxing butt because you couldn't stand to be second in line through the light.
3. Running your car up my ass will absolutely NOT make me go any faster, particularly if I'm in a more rightward lane. In fact, I'll probably slow down a bit, just to piss you off. I see you in the rearview, and if I'm in the left lane passing something, I'll get over just as soon as I can. If there are slow cars in front of me, there's really nothing I can do about it, jackass, so relax and wait it out with the rest of us.
4. Lane changes are not for the timid, and are not a mini-sightseeing tour of the highway. Find your gap, signal your intent, and then get the job done already. Taking thousands of feet to cross the lane divider is dangerous and stupid.
5. If you DO run your car up my ass to get me out of your way, and I move over, get your butt on down the road. I will not play the "let's trade places" game. I'm also not going to be your lead block. I don't run with a radar detector, so getting behind me and doing what I do will not really get you anything. In fact, if I suspect that you're dogging me, I will make it a point to switch to the opposite lane every time you do, so that you're NOT directly behind me for more than a split second.
6. If there's a traffic slowdown right where you want to be, man up and get in line. Do not speed up to the head of the line and then cut in like some idiot third-grade bully. You'll get there, and you're probably not in any bigger an actual hurry than the rest of us, you're just a jackass.
7. If you're doing something else while you're driving (talking on your cel without a headset, texting, downloading porn on your Crackberry, nursing a baby, playing guitar, whatever), pull off the goddamn road. You're a danger to yourself and others. If you're so attached to your dog that they have to ride in the driver's seat with you, consider hiring a chauffer so you and the dog can have some quality time together.
8. If you're slower traffic, keep right. If you're one of those sanctimonious asses who believes its their job to police everyone else's speed, find another frakkin' hobby. It's not aboslute speed that causes accidents, it's the difference in relative speed that causes the problem. If the rest of traffic is doing 70, and you're dumbassing along at 55 in the left lane, you're going to get some dirty looks, at best.
9. If you're getting on the highway, speed up while you're on the entrance ramp, to smoothly enter your chosen gap (you did locate a gap on the way down the ramp, right?). If you're getting off the highway, slow down after you pull onto the ramp, unless there's a specific decelleration lane. In either event, get your self-important butt out of the flow of traffic before you drastically change speed or direction.
10. If you're on a motorcycle, stop acting like a privileged, spoiled brat. Car versus motorcycle is never scored as a win for the motorcycle. Maintain a space cushion, signal your intent, move with traffic, and cut out the damn traffic weaving. We're all very impressed with your hog, but if you're gonna act like a douchebag, you'll probably end up in a bodybag.
11. Conversely, if you're behind a motorcycle, give them some respect. In an emergency, their brakes will stop them a lot quicker than yours will you, so unless you like vehicular manslaughter on your record and bits of human being for a hood ornament, back off.
12. Do not, under any circumstances, jack with the big rigs. Yeah, they're slower than you, and they have an obnoxious habit of blocking passing lanes because they're going 0.00005 mph faster than the rig in front of them, but your chances of surviving a wreck involving you and a tractor-trailer are roughly equal to those of the motorcyclist in #10 and #11. Get around them quickly, and just leave them alone.

Reboxing the T-Amp: Stay Tuned

Okay, the kiddo's at camp, the ex is outta my hair, and the usual suspects are in Atlanta competing in a tournament, so it looks like I have a more-or-less free weekend coming up. At the very least, I'll get the long-promised pics and stats of the Cheapzuma and the in-the-midst-of-redoing Podzuma up, and maybe even get some time in on the T-Amp rebox.

Unless I decide to sleep in a lot.

Burning Down The House

My, my...where *was* TJ going all pimpadelic-looking?

Of course, we all know that I'm a Brad fan, because Brad is me, with a better writer. I loved that Toni volunteered to let Brad stay at her place while the house was fixed, and I loved even more that she totally turned TJ down, emphasizing that it was a Brad-only offer. So Brad hangs at the station most of the time, TJ's staying with the DeGroots, and more than ever, Brad and Toni are...well...Brad and Toni.

I'm sure there'll be some Evans-esque twist to the TJ angle. He's almost certainly not a drug dealer (just because Mom and Dad DeGroot are so worried about that eventuality), and it'll probably turn out to be something completely above-board. My money's on TJ's source of income being a dance instructor. He's already shown us he's a pretty good cook (though he needs to work on his kitchen-fire instincts), so why not have him be a good dancer too? Not that there's anything wrong with that... On the other hand, his talent for minor scammery (illustrated by the firefighter meals scheme with Tiffany) doesn't rule out something less honest, but I doubt it's anything truly illegal.

Empathy for Comic Strip Characters, part 2

Well, apparently while I was out of town with limited internet opportunities, the "dessert" storyline wrapped up. Brad had decided to "upgrade" his looks with a goatee, and gamely headed over to Toni's place to have dessert with her and her niece.

I've got to give my buddy Brad a big fist-bump for not letting bratty little Shannon deter him from getting some face-time with Toni. Of course, the goatee backfired, kinda. Neither Toni nor Shannon liked it, and Shannon was very direct about it in a way that kids are. Just when it seems that Brad's gonna have to do some damage control for the goatee stunt, Toni offers to shave it for him right then and there.

Now, I can't speak for all guys, but there's almost nothing hotter than having the girl you love give you a shave. Particularly when she gets all touchy admiring the end result. Now, even with all this, I really didn't see Saturday's strip coming...

...but if I'm Brad, I want that kind of dessert pretty much all the time. Let the kid eat the sweets and go have a nice sugar coma in front of a Disney flick...I'll take making out with her hottie aunt any day. I liked that "ending" for a couple of reasons.

1. Brad's still kinda clueless and guarded. He's not taking anything for granted with Toni, and he's taking pretty much everything at face value, so he's surprised right up 'til the kiss.
2. Without managing to seem conceited, Toni knows that Brad would much rather kiss her than worry about food.
3. Toni seems just as into the idea as Brad does. Even though they had a kiss after ditching the firefighter's ball to go go-karting, this was an unambiguous signal of desire on her part.

Stroking the cheek post-shave was good, but it's still one of those things that could be taken as more-or-less platonic (Toni could just be a very tactile person, and would have reacted the same to anyone). But, a kiss, initiated by her, that's a milestone for my man Brad.

Don't screw it up, Brad.

I figure Evans will either re-introduce the Dirk character, turn Shannon into a source of stress for the couple, or let TJ mess with Brad's insecurities, and there will be some sort of blowup. But then, I thought sure he'd kill off Ben (Bernice's long-lost Army brother), and he didn't, so my track record on guessing isn't that great. That said, I know how things go for guys like Brad and me, so I can almost see it coming.

We're about overdue for another visit from Tiffany, so I figure she'll show up in the current adopt-a-highway thread.

Empathy for Comic Strip Characters

For some time now, I've been following the comic "Luann" by Greg Evans. I'm not sure why, really, because most of the storylines (predictably enough) center around a teenage girl named Luann who can't seem to pull her head out of her shallow ass and find a boyfriend. I guess what hooked me was the storyline about her older brother, Brad. Near as I have it figured (I came in a little after the start of the storyline), Brad was involved in some sort of life-saving rescue (as the rescuer, not the rescuee) with a school-mate named Toni Daytona. Toni is, for a comic character, a stone fox, and she seems pretty bright. Brad is kinda a schlub. They apparently share a passion for cars, and they both went to the fire academy and became firefighters after their dramatic shared rescue experience.

During the early parts of their fire academy time, Toni was dating an obvious jerk named Dirk. He drove a hot car, worked out a lot, and was generally a controlling, jealous prick. The good news is, Toni's dumped Dirk. The seemingly better news is that in the past couple of months, Brad's managed to develop a more-than-friends (maybe) relationship with Toni. He's turning out to be thoughtful and romantic, and she's turning out to be not as shallow as she started out seeming, and they've shared a kiss after ditching the firemen's ball.

I am completely rooting for Brad. He's shown a little jealousy over Dirk, but mostly, his problem is self-confidence. Anyone can tell that based purely on looks, Brad and Toni aren't well-matched. It's not quite as bad as the "fat lunkhead / hot wife" pairing so common in sitcoms (Still Standing, According to Jim, King of Queens, Grounded For Life, etc.), in that Brad is fit enough to be a firefighter, and he's clearly a better catch than his smarmy pal T.J. Toni's beautiful on the outside, but she shows some capacity for shallowness. Taken as whole people, you figure that Brad and Toni are pretty evenly matched, but Brad feels outclassed.

Evans hasn't really let us learn too much about Toni's inner workings, preferring to let us see her mostly through Brad's eyes. She doesn't get any of the "sitting around being introspective with her friends" time that Luann does (come to think of it, we don't even really know if Toni has friends, or who they are...the only characters we've seen associate with Toni are Dirk the Dick, and Toni's niece Shannon), but we get to hear Brad bounce his love life off of his sister Luann and his buddy T.J.

So, I don't think anyone will be surprised to learn that I'm Brad (well, really, I'm more like Kevin James' character in King of Queens, physically). I always have a hard time believing that insanely hot women could/would find me attractive. Not that I don't have very good qualities, just that I know that physical attraction makes up a good bit of how couples get together, and that's almost always one-sided. So, being Brad, I want my fictional counterpart to do well. I cringe when he lets T.J. talk him into some stupid, gooberish plan to woo Toni (thankfully, Brad's started realizing what an immature tool T.J. is), I smile when it's clear that Toni's digging him, and I nearly yell out loud when Brad nearly takes himself out of the game because of the disparity in their looks.

A side note...readers of Luann will note that there's another "beauty and the beast" kind of storyline between Luann and Gunther. Gunther's almost the opposite of Brad, in that Gunther has TONS of self-confidence. He is who he is, and while he is attracted to Luann (for reasons unknown, she's kinda spacey and shallow), he's standing his ground even though Luann has flat-out told him that she thinks he's a nerd. Gunther doesn't resonate with me the Brad does, probably because I don't know what that kind of self-confidence would feel like.

Nope, I'm a Brad, and I keep looking for a Toni. And while I know it would mess up the wonderful will-they-or-won't-they tension he's got building, I keep hoping he gets her. It'd be nice to see one of us succeed.

P.S. - It occurred to me that part of the reason the pairings in most beauty-and-the-beast sitcoms don't resonate is that you pick up the relationship after it's established, and if you do get the "origin story", it's usually very rushed and hinges on some highly-contrived pivotal comic moment where "beauty" sees "beast" in a new light. That's great and all, but a moment does not a relationship make. I think that's the fun part of the Brad/Toni storyline in "Luann"...if they do have a romantic relationship, we've seen how it developed...the fits and starts...the mistakes and makeups...and it will seem more established for having built gradually.

Reboxing the T-Amp: As If I Needed More Ideas

I think this is why I'm a better software architect than system engineer...

As an architect, I'm given the requirements for the system, and I can bend my creativity toward solving the problem within those constraints...on this rebox project (and its sister, the Podzuma re-do), my only requirement seems to be "do something cool".

To catch y'all up, several things have happened in the past couple weeks. First, and perhaps most significantly, I found a T-Amp on eBay for about $40. There were actually several up for auction, and I bid on them, but only won one. There's a fellow selling them on eBay for $59.99 "or best offer", but I'll warn ya, if your best offer is lower than about $54, no dice. With shipping at that point, you're better off buying the 2nd gen T-Amp from Amazon for $59.99 (which is really coming from Parts Express anyway). He claims his cost is about $50 per unit, which I have no reason to doubt, but I can't see anyone making money on that deal. If there weren't an arguably improved 2nd gen unit on the market, I could see getting the $86 that Cyber Yazgan is getting on eBay (apparently also selling on Amazon as Cyber World), but the T-Amp's primary selling point was that it was great quality for a steal...and if you're just going to gut the box anyway for the sweet sweet ampage inside, either version will work, so it's stupid to pay a premium for the old one.

The second thing that happened was that I found a deal on eBay for basically a clone of my older stereo amp, the Pioneer VSX-2000. Since I'd basically decided that (if executed properly) the reboxed T-Amp would be too "nice" for resuming garage/woodshop duty, this worked out great, because the Pioneer is a good solid amp, which I already know will drive the speakers in the garage just fine, and I have actually less invested in the Pioneer than I do in the T-Amp. So, I was thinking (as I do) that with the extra available input ports, it'd be nice to have a CD player in addition to driving the amp with an MP3 player. And, knowing that virtually all CD-ROM drives have the abiltity to play audio CDs without having to use the IDE interface, and having a few old CD-ROM drives cluttering the shelves, I figured that with some simple electronics (really, just a couple cheap voltage regulators and some RCA output jacks) and a simple case, I could put an essentially free CD player in my garage (and if cold, or heat, or dust damage it, I'm out $3, and very minimal effort).

Y'all already know what's coming, dontcha?

"How hard would it be to ADD a built-in CD player to the reboxed T-Amp?" Of course, the answer is, "Not hard at all...particularly since the rebox design is still relatively fluid...just extend the width, tap the incoming power, repurpose the second RCA port to the dedicated CD player, add a couple front panel switches for the play/skip and stop/eject buttons, skin the front of the drive with the same wood as the case..." So, I think I'll probably at this point do two T-Amp reboxes...one with a built-in CD function, and the other more like the original vision.

Oh, and I decided to replace the D-battery array in the Cheapzuma with a pair of 6-volt sealed lead-acids in series. That should be a relatively easy re-fit, because the SLAs will fit easily in the space where the D-battery array is now...simple charge circuit, external power jack and charge LED, maybe (or maybe not) the 12v accessory port...

Coming next, photos of the Cheapzuma, the Podzuma-in-progress, and some concept drawings of the T-Amp rebox(es).

Pray for me. (Hmmm...I wonder if I could/should use that old Rio Volt MP3/CD player with the T-Amp rebox instead of a CD-ROM drive?)

Seriously. Pray for me.

Reboxing the T-Amp: Game On!

Okay...I can unclench now.

In my last rebox update, I mentioned I might have to sacrifice the remaining virgin 5066 in order to complete the Podzuma re-do. Here's the story...

In the original Podzuma build, I was a little less than careful desoldering the on-board headphone jack to wire an extension in. So, the whole thing was kinda dicey to start with, but I managed to get it working. In the early stages of the re-do, I was trying to add a 3-position screw terminal to the 5066 board, which meant even more creative engineering, which seemed to frag the solder pads even further. So, I figured I'd just wire the input directly to the 50k dual pot, and bypass the solder pads on the board altogether. When I did, it would work, but I got a lot of clipping at even moderate volumes. I managed to exonerate the custom crossovers, because they worked just fine with the still-factory 5066 destined for the rebox. Everything I tried with the Podzuma board left me stymied, so I gave up, gutted the virgin 5066, and started to wire it in for a bench test. Lo and behold, I had the same problem. Not being willing to admit that I'd fried the second one too (and knowing that it had worked while it was in its factory case), I finally figured out where the problem was. When I tested the crossovers, I was running the virgin 5066 on wall wart power, but I've been doing my bench testing with the sealed lead-acid battery (the target power supply). So, since I hadn't destroyed the on-board DC input jack, I tried running both boards off the wall wart, and lo and behold, they both work flawlessly. So, I figure I have a problem with my charging circuit or the battery itself, and the problem seems to stem from the amp wanting to pull more juice than the battery can provide. Now, in its original incarnation, the Podzuma worked just fine at high volume levels, so I have to think it's the charge circuit (which has always been in place during bench tests).

Anyway, this isn't a blog of the Podzuma re-do (at least, it wasn't meant to be), but the good news is that the last 5066 is still available for the rebox, and given shop-time, I can proceed.

Stay tuned!

Two Years & Resolutions

Almost exactly two years ago, I laid down in this blog a rambling rumination on love and whatnot. I was inspired by the sermon at my friend D's wedding. Well, in the intervening two years, D's gotten divorced and managed to impregnate his office manager (in that order, thank God, his divorce was acrimonious enough). Things with L are not only not improved, but apparently, her leaving her job was the impetus she needed to cut me off too (I'm not ruling out that something more serious has occurred with her that prevents her from talking to me, but at least I haven't found an obituary via Google.)

So, where am I at for 2008? I'm sitting here with a broken foot that I've had for the past three months, just back from a not-particularly restful visit home to MO, trying to figure out how I can credibly make resolutions when I can't seem to keep even the smallest commitments to myself. But hey, it's a yearly exercise in self-delusion and ultimately recrimination, and gosh darn it, it's fun.

See, there's #1 - reduce profanity. You can probably fill in the others...weight loss, learn German, learn guitar...well, let's list them:

1. Reduce or eliminate profanity, particularly involving the f-bomb.
2. Incorporate TKD-friendly exercise and stretching into daily schedule (at least 30 min/day)
3. Start and stick to modified fasting diet
4. Learn guitar using brother D's Esteban DVDs (assuming they're worth it)
5. Learn German
6. Improve relationships with family and friends (hey, there's a nice specific one)

Guess you've noticed these seem familiar. I'm turning 40 in 2008, in 79 days. It'd be nice to feel like I've used those 79 days to attain some goals before a milestone birthday. And of course, most of those are ongoing, even after the big Four-Oh, but establishing them as habits by then would be nice.

If there's anyone reading, wish me luck. Odd how blogging more regularly isn't a resolution...