Looking back on another year gone by...

I have the same feelings every year about this time.  I can't believe how quickly another year has gone by. But then again, memories tend to have a much shorter half-life than actual events.  For example, I recall sitting on my patio in mid July when we were having the umpteenth 100-degree day in a row thinking "when will this damn scorching summer ever end??"  I need to remind myself of days like today when I'm failing to appreciate how quickly the years really do go by.

2013 was a pretty good year for me in many ways.  Here's the highlights:

• I realized a career milestone by being promoted to Vice President at my company.  This is just one more piece of evidence that moving to Boise was one of the best decisions I've ever made. 

View from top of the
Space Needle in Seattle 



Hofburg Palace in Vienna

• Got 2 sets of stamps on my passport (Victoria, British Columbia and Amsterdam, Netherlands).  The latter as a EU layover on my to Vienna, Austria.  The former was part of a week-long graduation trip for our amazing niece Jordan.  We had a great time exploring Seattle and Victoria quacking like a duck, climbing Space Needles, and managing to hold down our cookies on the 'Vomit Comet.' 

• I decided to go to grad school after 19+ years to work on an Executive MBA at Boise State. Hopefully graduating in May 2015.  It took a great program like BSU's to tempt me enough to take the plunge and make the commitment.  I'm one semester into the program and already feel I've gotten a tremendous amount out of it.  My friends joke that I'm working on Joe ver 2.0.  The funny part is there's a lot of truth to that. 

Fenway from on top of the 'Monstah'

• I flew more miles than I ever have in one year, yet it felt like I spent less time traveling than usual.  Try & figure that one out...

• Added 2 new baseball parks to my list of ones visited.  Fenway Park in Boston and Safeco Field in Seattle. Both were amazing in their own ways.  Perhaps the best examples of how great 'old' and 'new' parks can be.  Even better was the decision to buy tickets on top of the Green Monster in Left Field.  The experience is nothing short of magical for a real Red Sox fan.

Safeco Field

• The Red Sox won the World Series again with perhaps the best TEAM they've ever had.  Definitely not the most talented group, but one that exemplified team in every way. One of the most deserving team wins ever.

• Continued to love riding and customizing the V-Strom.  My season was cut short by early snow but hope to get back in the saddle as soon as possible. 

I lead a blessed life in many ways and try to appreciate everyday all the things I have or have been given. Here's hoping that 2014 leaves as much of a mark on me as 2013 did.

Yep...that's a student ID alright...

After much consideration, I decided to go through with the Executive MBA program at BSU.  Went to the new student orientation, met some of my classmates, and received my first assignments.  Its all good so far but then again, the fun hasn't really started yet.

Back in The Shop

After a long hiatus, I got back in the shop recently to help some friends make a few adirondack chairs and footrests.  I've made a few of these chairs before so I was confident that we could knock them out without too much trouble.  Most plans call for use of templates made beforehand so the actual pieces can be easily replicated

Our friends D&D wanted chairs with a curved back pattern, so we decided to go with Norm Abram's design from the New Yankee Workshop.  I have one of Norm's books that provides the plan and layout for templates, so that made getting started pretty easy.  The wood we choose we reclaimed redwood from my old deck, which was replaced last year with Trex.  I am glad I saved the old 2x6 redwood boards since a project like this is perfect for them.  It took quite a bit of time jointing, re-sawing, and planing the old deck boards into usable 4x stock, but it was worth the effort.  We ended up with ~200 bf of usable boards with really nice character. The photo below shows the stack of redwood after the considerable milling was done.

The process included sorting the boards for the best stock, tracing the outlines of the templates, rough cutting the shapes on the band saw, then trimming the stock to the template using a pattern cutting bit on the router table.  After a little finish sanding, the chairs were ready to be assembled.  Each chair took about 8 hours from start to finish.  We also decided to make a couple of footrests after chairs were done.  These weren't included in the original plan but they were pretty easy to adapt to match.  Each footrest took about an hour.  Below are photos of the finished chairs and footrests.  The first is in my garage right after assembly.  The last two show them in their final resting place, on D&D's beautiful new patio. They're planning to apply a simple clear finish to let the color and grain pattern of the redwood to come through.  These should provide years of comfortable backyard seating around the fire pit.

Latest Project

An early teaser photo of the latest shop project.  One more of these on the way along with some foot rests to match.  Should make a nice addition to D&D's new patio!  Stay tuned for more.

Oufitting the V-Strom Part 2

Since the last V-Strom post, I decided to add a few circuits to the fus.e block that I could use for electronics and heated accessories.  Following several posts on VSRI and Stromtroopers, I ordered a custom dashboard shelf specifically designed and fabricated for V-Strom motorcycles.  It's designed to receive panel mount power plugs and other accessories that you want to install and use on a motorcycle.

I decided to install a standard 12-V power socket and a specialty 12-V Powerlet socket used a lot on BMW motorcycles.  Powerlet makes great heated gear for cold weather riding and I wanted the ability to upgrade to heated gloves, grips, or even a vest in the future. Below are some photos of the completed install.  The shelf bolts perfectly to the top of the front fork mount using existing bolt holes.  It was installed in less than 15 minutes. Easy! 

I ran the lead wires under the fairing and gas tank back to the fuse block, keeping everything hidden.  Both were added to the switched power circuits on the block, helping to prevent draining the battery if I forget to unplug something.  Both plugs get 12V supplied as soon as the key is turned on.

The first application for the 12-V plug was a RAM phone/ipod mount for navigation, music, whatever.  The Ram mount bolted into the mirror extenders I installed last year.  The phone sits securely in a spring-loaded mount and is ultimately adjustable.  Below is a photo of the phone installed with the mobile charger plugged in.

 
I also had a center stand installed by Carl's Cycles over the Christmas holidays.  A center stand is great since it takes weight off of the tires and makes working on the bike much easier.   It installs behind the factory kick-stand so I can use either one independently.

Now that the weather is getting warmer, I'm looking forward to some longer rides where I can take advantage of these new upgrades.