Penny is our 7 month old shih-tzu (here she is with Brooke):
Penny has a nose for beef:
Penny lets you know when she doesn’t want to be moved:
Penny sleeps on her back and snores like a trucker:
posted on Sun, 30 Oct 2011 at 22:37 | permanent link | view comments
The bane of every washing machine
Girls. Specifically, girl things. More specifically, girls’ hair things.
The latest mechanical failure in our life occurred last week on Wednesday when the washing machine, which had been making rattling noises for a while, simply stopped draining.
Previous recent mechanical failures include:
September 15: car (‘94 Corolla) engine dies on way to airport near I-80 and Redwood Road. I was able to coax it over the hill to the off-ramp, start it a few more times as it died, and left it at a gas station nearby. Caught a ride from Diamond Parking and Shuttle (thanks dude!) and made my flight anyway. Car still in shop.
September 16: on the flight home, the zealous flight steward filled my water glass to the brim and as he handed it to me, spilled an unknown quantity on my laptop (‘10 MacBook Pro) keyboard. Keyboard behaves as if the Command key is down all the time. $300 to replace keyboard.
September 20: scooter (‘07 Genuine Buddy) loses all power on the Lindon hill going north into Pleasant Grove. I coast for maybe a quarter mile, goose it, and the engine revives, but with a new rattling noise. The next day I see that there is no oil at all in case. I add maybe 300ml and drive it up to the Scooter Lounge and it’s out of oil again. Dave says he’s not sure what’s going on there.
October 1: van bumper meets irresistible force (boulder) in Millcreek Canyon. New bumper needed. Van is in shop for 3 days (we broke down and got a rental).
October 5: washing machine stops draining, constant beeping (this is a Fisher & Paykel GWL 15, for anyone finding this from the internets) and then unfamiliar light patterns on the control panel (3, 6, 8 from left to right). A call to customer support let me know that that’s a pump problem. Saturday I took a few hours and disassembled the machine. Look what I found in the pump:
The silver chain you see in the picture was wrapped around the pump spindle. The bobby and straight pins were lodged in the impeller. Total time for repair: 3 hours. Quality time spent with my sons in learning new skills and, ahem, interesting conversation: priceless.
Love you, gals!
posted on Sun, 09 Oct 2011 at 22:08 | permanent link | view comments
Here are my two happy things from yesterday:
I have new windshield wipers on my car. If you haven’t replaced your windshield wipers in the past year, do so now.
As I was driving down a rain-soaked backroad, I drove through a deep puddle, making a fantastic spray. An oncoming car hit the same puddle from the other side just after I drove through it. I watched in my rear-view mirror as the other car made a U-turn to have another go at it from my lane. I now resolve to swerve—without jeopardizing my or others’ safety—and hit every puddle I possibly can.
Brooke was invited by an old friend (as old a friend as an 11 year old can be) to hike Mount Timpanogos last Saturday. While we didn’t make it to the saddle or peak, we did make it all the way to the upper meadow just below the saddle. What a great little hiker! Here are some photos and video clips.
A little stinging nettle. If you’re in the hills and feel like you
have to go potty, these leaves are a great choice to help you
eliminate that desire.
(full size)
A medely of trickles.
We made it to Scout Falls.
(full size)
The cliffs of insanity.
A well-worn stump.
Here’s the slope up to Pika Cirque that Ana and I took in 2005. It was still covered in snow at the end of September that year.
Sassy!
(full size)
Girls and dads (but me).
(full size)
Looking north to Little Cottonwood Canyon ridge.
Tiny spheres of rain trapped in the leaves (view the full size).
(full size)
Mountain Brooke.
(full size)
Scott & Brooke.
(full size)
So close and yet so far.
(full size)
Brooke, Emily, & Katherine
(full size)
posted on Tue, 08 Sep 2009 at 09:16 | permanent link | view comments
[Note: You can skip the next 6 paragraphs or so to the mildly amusing anecdote if you don’t like my seemingly endless diatribes. If you don’t like my mildly amusing anecdotes either, you can jump right to the final 4 or 5 paragraphs and enjoy my grandiose moralizing.]
When I bought my scooter last March, a lot of people asked about it. What kind is it? Is it fast? What kind of mileage do you get? Where’s the clutch? Can I ride it? (answers: “a Genuine Buddy”, “60-65 mph on a straightaway”, “90-ish mpg”, “it’s a continuous clutch—just twist and go”, and “no.”).
(a photograph of my erstwhile office)
But the best question has been, “Why did you buy that scooter and not some other kind?” I’ve mostly handwaved my way through that question with something like “I researched it for two years” yadda, yadda, yadda. It’s true that other people who have owned multiple scooters really like it, and that influenced me. There’s also the great support group and local service shop. But every major brand has its loyal following: these reasons are not completely unique to my scooter.
Not-China
In reality, you’re fairly safe with any scooter from not-China: Kymco, Honda, Yamaha, Genuine, Sym, Lambretta, Bajaj, etc. These are all good brands that have been around for a long time. The Chinese scooters you see for sale on every other corner of major thoroughfares are what the cognoscenti call “disposable scooters.” They usually offer 90 day warranties, which I’m told you’re lucky to make it through without incident. If you go to any scooter shop that’s been around for more than a year or two, you’ll find dozens of these sub-$1000 disposables in the junkyard behind the shop and none for sale in the shop itself.
The owners and mechanics of good scooter shops will tell you what the Chinese scooters are made of: $%*#@! In layman’s terms, this means they’re made of inexpensive plastic parts and poor quality, brittle metals that are not designed to last long under heat or stress. They’re the scooter equivalent pressboard furniture: it may do just fine for you if you don’t move it far or often. And keep it out of the rain.
[I’m not bagging on China. I love China (sometimes). Most of the nice things I own were assembled in or have parts from China. But Chinese-made scooters are terrible. Ride a few of them and then ride something from the list above and you’ll see what I mean. Talk to scooter mechanics, ask around. There’s a reason they’re so cheap.]
Another reason I bought a Buddy was the 2 year warranty and roadside assistance (at no extra cost). I always thought roadside assistance was for sissies. I’d never needed it for my car (I somehow always managed to find a phone and call someone), but today I was proven wrong. I am proud to say that roadside assistance is awesome.
Story time: gather ‘round!
I’m cruising north on Geneva Road this afternoon. A dump truck in the left lane and an 18-wheeler ahead of me in the right lane. The truck in my lane is drifting occasionally into the shoulder and stirring up a lot of dust and gravel. My face is being pelted with little objects, so I start to slow a little and BAM and then rat-tat-tat-tat-tat over and over. Something is making a terrible noise in my rear wheel. I slow down and pull off the road. The rat-tat-tat stops, but I dismount to see what’s going on.
Protruding from the rear tire is about a half-inch of a rusty nail. Crud. Air is already hissing from the tire, so I pull the whole thing out. Three-freaking-inches of nail. It was nearly all the way in. Crud. I think I can make it another quarter mile—maybe.
I turn on the hazard blinkers and creep along the shoulder until I get to the next gas station. I can feel the rear tire is completely flat before I get there, so I walk it from the curb to the building and park it on the sidewalk in front of the store. A nice guy on a skateboard mentions a scooter shop nearby (which isn’t there anymore actually, but he didn’t know that, so I just thanked him). We chat a little bit. Then I remember a month or so ago getting my roadside assistance card in the mail:
I call the number, and a pleasant voice asks, “Are you in a safe location?” Sweet. “You bet I am.”
In another minute she’s asked for my policy number and verified all of my information. She asks for my location and where I want it towed. I walk into the air-conditioned convenience store to get out of the 90°+ heat. The guy with the skateboard is charging his cell phone from an outlet behind the garbage can. “Things ok?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I say. “I remembered I have roadside assistance.”
“Awesome!” he says. Then he turns away to make a call now that he’s got some juice in his phone.
15 minutes later and the tow truck is there. I sign a paper saying that Larry’s Towing has my scooter. In 30 minutes the truck is on its way to The Scooter Lounge (“the best scooter shop in the universe!”). No charge for any of this—it’s all part of the package. For 2 years. It also covers car rental, but I don’t need that today (I’m hanging out at the gas station’s convenience store writing this until my wife picks me up).
Back to quality
But this essay isn’t really about scooters and flat tires. It’s about quality. There are companies that care first about what they do, and there are companies that care first about making money. Some folks think that you can do the latter without doing the former, and I think in the short term they’re often right: you can fool some of the people some of the time.
While most people care about quality in something, whether it’s the TV shows they watch or the beer they drink, many people don’t seem to care about quality in most things. They’re going to buy the cheapest things over and over, rather than wait and save up for something better. It just doesn’t matter to them.
I don’t know if there’s any correlation between people who don’t care about using quality things and people who don’t care about creating quality things (or doing quality work) but I know that people who care about making quality almost universally appreciate it in the things they use themselves: their cars, homes, food, clothing, music, furniture, plumbing, computers, software, tools, and even scooters.
This is not to say that everything we have must be the best. We make do with many things and budget constraints often force us to temper what’s important to us. But the things that are important should be of adequate quality to give satisfaction.
It’s also important to keep in mind that tastes change over time, often for the better: what was satisfying to you at one time may not satisfy you later on (e.g., making dough by hand used to be great, but a Bosch makes making bread oh-so-much more fun). Having quality nearby makes making more quality enjoyable.
posted on Wed, 22 Jul 2009 at 23:48 | permanent link | view comments
We finally made it up to the cabin this year. Between school, finishing the basement, layoffs, and scrambling for work, we haven’t set aside any time to get away until this weekend. Here are some of the highlights.
Here’s a tick I picked off of Preston’s neck (it hadn’t embedded itself yet, thankfully). The lines on the paper are a quarter inch apart to give you a sense of scale.
Some forest shots:
A little archery:
A variety of mushrooms this year:
I also spotted a small flock of wild turkeys wandering around our lot:
We also went on a hike. We were intending to go to Shingle Mill Lake, but it was just a little too far for the time we had.
We went about half way instead and visited an old hunter’s hovel on top of a glacial moraine.
Old frying pan:
But a beautiful view of the Shingle Mill drainage and beyond. Looking north.
Looking south-ish:
Me and the kids:
Brooke and Ashton on the way back:
Arches National Forest?
C. Wilde left his mark over 80 years ago in this forest. He was a rancher from the Oakley area. I wrote a Wendigo-style ghost story about him a few years ago.
I’m not normally into scatology, but this was pretty fresh cougar scat. I noticed this on the way up and took a picture on the way back.
My uncle Dave carved this about 30 years ago with his then fiancée Linnea (now my favorite aunt):
We need to do this more often! (I say that every time).
posted on Sun, 05 Jul 2009 at 11:24 | permanent link | view comments
Taken in Tibble Fork, American Fork Canyon, Utah on June 13, 2009.
posted on Sun, 21 Jun 2009 at 20:50 | permanent link | view comments
but does it work?
Any money I receive will be spent on new pens (Pilot G2, of course).
posted on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 at 22:20 | permanent link | view comments
This is my first attempt at imitating Jessica Hagy’s work. Well, I liked it, anyway…
This is how Mark and I spent Presidents Day this year, and how we should spend it every year.
Here’s an alternative link for those of you who’ve had trouble viewing it:
posted on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 at 16:12 | permanent link | view comments