The Further Adventures of Matt & Maegan

Pancakes

2009-09-04T10:02:00.003-05:00

“Momma?”
I opened my eyes to see my son standing next to the bed. The clock said 3 in the morning.
“Are you sick, baby?”
“No, Momma.”
“Is there a stranger in the house?”
“No, Momma.”
“Is anything on fire?”
“No, Momma.”
“Then why are you waking me up at 3am?”
“I really want some pancakes!”
I groaned and let my head fall back on the pillow. Before I could say anything my husband leaned across the bed, “Son, do you see me eating pancakes?”
“No, Dad.”
“When Dad is eating pancakes, then you get to eat pancakes too,” said my husband. “Now go back to bed.”
I watched my son leave as quietly as he came in. As soon as the door closed my husband whispered, “I sure could use some pancakes to help me go back to sleep.”
I groaned and let my head fall back on the pillow. Again.

---
©Maeganann Bacon

The Race

2009-09-04T00:14:00.001-05:00

The ship turned again, this time heading North.

"Billy! What do the gauges show?"

"All dials showing increasing pressure, Captain, but still green."

"Excellent! We may make it on time after all."

"Captain, if we're on such a strict time-table, why do we keep making all these course changes? Wouldn't a direct heading get us there quicker?

The Captain looked at the new engineer, trying to decide if the inquiry was a doubt of his leadership ability or a genuine search for an answer. Deciding on the latter, the Captain smiled. "Billy, you need to understand. The view from the captain's chair is different than any other chair on the bridge. Each station is specialized to do its part and to do it well. But from here, I need to look at all the information and make decisions based on the entire picture." He chuckled, "Or at least as much of a picture as I can get."

"But to answer your question more directly, come here and look through this telescope. Look right down there to the left, about a mile inland." The bow of the airship had angled windows to allow easier viewing to anything under it.

Looking through a spyglass, the engineer answered, "You mean that old building?"

"Look next to it."

"Is that... Is that a radar dish?"

"Yes, it is. And that radar dish is attached to a system that is programmed to automatically shoot us down if we get within range. So we take a less direct route to try to give installations like that a wide berth."

"Captain! You better take a look at this!" The cry came from the radar operator.

The Captain hurried over and looked at the radar screen. "Simmons, that looks like a watership just coming into range. Is it one of ours?"

"No, sir. I've rechecked the coordinates of all our ships, water and air, and none are near us."

The Captain looked over at the engineer. "Well, Billy, it seems that even with our indirect path we may have to face some resistance."

The radar operator shouted, "Captain! I'm showing that they've launched a missile."

"Navigator, I know this thing moves like an elephant in molasses, but try to avoid that missile!" The Captain thumbed the com. "All hands, brace for impact!"

---
© Matthew Bacon

Eggs Over Easy

2009-08-28T21:06:00.008-05:00

She looked out the window. Nothing really strange about that, except that she wasn't sure why she did it. A flash out of the corner of her eye?

"Did you hear me? I said I'd like my eggs over easy"

"Uh, yeah. Sure thing, Mac."

She scribbled the order on the pad she pulled from her apron. Walking toward the kitchen, her eyes were again drawn to the window. But this time she knew why. Standing outside was a man. A man wearing clothes that looked like something from the 1800s. The waitress didn't remember hearing about any kind of festival in town that would explain clothes like that. The man kept looking at a notebook in his hand, then around the area. He nodded his head as though coming to a decision and crossed the street to the opposite side. The waitress saw him pull something from his bag. It looked like... duct tape? He bent over and taped the edges of an old cardboard box that had been sitting up against a lamp post. Just as the waitress was about to turn to the cook, she saw a flash of light around the man. Then he was gone.

"Something wrong with ya?"

"No, no. I just... thought I saw something a bit strange, ya know?" the waitress answered.

"Strange like what?"

"Oh, probably nothing. Just a bit bleary-eyed after all these hours. You know how it is."

"Sure thing. Hey did ya need something?"

"Oh, almost forgot. Guy at table four wants two eggs, over easy."
---
© Matthew Bacon

Kuketoj

2009-09-03T10:03:00.006-05:00

"Haltu!"

La knabino rigardis ĉien. "Kiu diris tion?"

"Saluton, Rosa. Mi havas demandon al vi. Kie estas la kuketojn?"

"Panjo! La kuketoj estas sur la telero, ĉu ne?"

"Ne. La telero estas malplena. Ĉu la kuketoj forparolis?"

"Ho, panjo. Tio estas fola. Ebla mia frato manĝis ilin?"

"Ĉu vi pensas ke via frato manĝis la kuketojn? Ĉu vi estas certa? Pensu zorge."

"Mi ne scias, panjo. Eble la hundido?"

"Rosa, mi estas via patrino. Ĉu vi mensogas al mi?"

"Ummmm... ne?"

"Rosa, rigardu viajn manojn."

Rosa estis surprizita trovi ke siaj manoj estis kovritaj kun ĉokolado.

"Ho, panjo! Kial ĉokolado kovris miajn manojn?"

"Eble ĝi okazis kiam vi manĝis la kuketojn."

"Sed... sed..."

"Rosa. Memoru min. Kiu estas pli malbona? Se vi manĝus la kuketojn? Aŭ se vi mensogus al mi?"

Rosa hezitis. "Mensogado estas pli malbona. Panjo! Bonvolu pardonu min! Mi manĝis la kuketojn. Mi manĝis ĉiom la kuketojn. Ili estis tre vere bongustaj! Mi bedaŭras."

"Do, vi manĝis kuketojn KAJ vi mensogis al mi. Kion vi pensas ke mi farus pri tio, Rosa?"

Rosa belete ridetis. "Vi forgesos ĝin?"

La patrino levis unu brovon.

Rosa mallevis sian kapon. "Vi faros pli kuketojn, kaj mi helpos vin. Sed mi ne manĝos iu ajn kuketojn."

"Jes, mi akordas."

Rosa ekhelpis sian patrinon kuiri pli kuketojn. Sed ŝi estis malĝoja. La patrino vidis la vizaĝon de sia filino, kaj sia koro ploras.

"Rosa, eble vi povas havi UNU kuketon."

"Ho, panjo! Dankon! Vi estas la plej bona panjo ĉiam!"

La patrino ridis. "Jes, karo. Mi estas. Memoru tion kiam vi volas mensogi."

"Jes, panjo, mi memoros!"

La patrino kaj la filino manĝis la kuketojn. Rosa eĉ savis iujn por sia frato.
---
© Matthew Bacon

---

Al Ganymeder: Dankon por la bona ideo de fikcietojxauxdo.
Al Esperantistoj: Mi ankoraŭ lernas Esperanton. Do, se mia esperanto ne estas korekta, mi estas ĝoja ricevi helpon.

Dr. Horrible

2008-07-19T08:12:00.004-05:00

I know we should be blogging about our wedding and honeymoon and posting pictures with comments and so on like that. And we will soon. Really. But we got distracted by amazing internet production! Joss Whedon, the genius who brought us Buffy, Angel, and best of all Firefly, brings to us an internet event. A wonderful piece of imagination and skill. A supervillain musical. Go forth and view Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

Patkukoj

2009-09-03T22:53:00.000-05:00

"Panjo?"

Mi malfermis miajn okulojn vidi mian filon apud la lito. Mi vidis la horloĝon. Estis la tria horo.

"Ĉu vi estas malsana, karo?"

"Ne, Panjo."

"Ĉu fremdulo estas en la domo?"

"Ne, Panjo."

"Ĉu io estas fajranta?"

"Ne, Panjo."

"Tiam kial vi vekas min ĉe la tria?"

"Mi tre volas patkukojn!"

Mi ĝemis kaj lasis mian kapon fali sur la litkuseno. Antaŭ mi diris ion, mia edzo klinis trans la lito, "Filo, ĉu vi vidas min manĝas patkukojn?"

"Ne, Paĉjo."

"Kiam Paĉjo manĝas patkukojn, tiam vi manĝas patkukojn," diris mian edzon.
"Nun reiru al lito."

Mi rigardis mian filon foriras mallaǔte. Post kiam la pordo fermis mia edzo flustris, "Mi povas uzi patkukojn helpi min redormas."

Mi ĝemis kaj lasis mian kapon fali sur la litkuseno. Denove.

---
© Maeganann Bacon

Grubby hands

2009-02-09T11:22:00.002-06:00

I recently installed Ubuntu and set up dual boot with Windows XP. I've used LiLo in the past, but this one is called Grub. It works great, but it loads Ubuntu by default and I need to manually choose to go to XP. I'm not quite ready for full time Linux yet, so I wanted XP to be default. With a bit of googling I was able to find which parameter to change to default. But it wouldn't let me save it. Thank you, sudo. So now it default boots the way I want it. I know it's just a minor thing, but I'll take my victories where I can.

Trebuchet: Parts 01-04

2008-05-13T18:07:00.002-05:00

I'm trying to build a bouquet trebuchet for the wedding. I've been taking pictures of the progress so far with the little camera in my phone. This post is to show the story so far.

Part 01: (03.20) The Sub-Frame

Part 02: (03.21) 1st side A-frame. The rubberbands have same function as clamps: to hold until glue dries.

Part 03: (04.02) The other A-frame

Part 04: (05.13) A-frames together with bottom cross beams. I need to make pegs out of that long dowel rod to hold in the cross beams.

Fred FredBurger

2008-05-20T17:52:00.007-05:00

This is Fred FredBurger. He made himself at home on my doorstep a while back and seems to be under the impression that I'm his keeper.

Matt named him after a character on The Grim Adventures of Mandy and Billy. Fred FredBurger is sweet, enjoys food and is very, very talkative. I think that about sums up my little friend here.

If you happen to know anyone looking for a cat let me know. This little guy needs a better home then my apartment stoop.

A small plug

2008-05-22T22:45:00.005-05:00

I just had to do a plug for my favorite new website, Etsy. If you haven't heard of it before, it is a website for crafters and artists to sell their wares. Every time I visit I am amazed at the beautiful things that people can create! If only our marketplaces were still filled with items like these...

My Tux has Arrived

2008-06-02T21:40:00.006-05:00

My tux came in today. It's pretty awesome. I got a good deal on it, too. Combo came with the Jacket, Pants, Shirt, Bow tie, & Cummerbund. The pants are unfinished at the bottom, so I need to get those tailored. The jacket needs a bit, too. It's just an inch or so long in the sleeves. But it's pretty close. Especially considering I bought it online.

Ordered the Rings

2008-06-04T09:45:00.013-05:00

Well, I never heard from the local guy yesterday, so I bought the rings online today from Titanium Era.

	This is Maegan's, except the stone will be a Ruby. The inscription inside will say Proverbs 31.
	This is mine. The inscription inside will say Psalm 128.

The Rings Have Arrived

2008-06-10T18:48:00.004-05:00

Trebuchet: Part 05

2008-06-10T22:37:00.004-05:00

It's been too long since I've worked on the trebuchet. But with all the wedding planning and trying to figure out timing of moving and getting everything planned, it's a bit hectic. But I got more done today. I hope I can finish it and test it before the wedding.

I cut the dowels and put them in to reinforce the security of the bottom crossbeams. I then attached the upright A-frame assembly to the bottom Sub-Frame along with some side bracing.

Here we see some rubberbands bracing the assembly while the glue dries.

This shows a bit more detail. You can see that I used short pencils with the rubberbands to be the anchor that pulls up on that center beam of the sub-frame. With those side angled braces pushing up at the top of the A-frame, it was wanting to separate from where it's being mounted to the sub-frame. Thus the need for these rubberbands to help keep it connected. In this shot you can also see the mini dowel pegs I used on the A-frame cross beams.

Beautiful Morning

2008-06-14T10:55:00.004-05:00

I stepped outside this morning to take out the trash and was greeted by a beautiful sight. Two blooming day lilies! These come from my Grandmother's garden and every time my Mom comes over she tells me I'm not watering enough. So hooray, I have found some hardy little guys that can survive apartment living.

Trebuchet: Part 06

2008-06-16T21:24:00.007-05:00

Today I completed the counterweight bucket. As you can see, each side is made up of three slats. Each slat has a tenon on the end which goes into the mortises on the end caps. The bottom is a solid piece which has two tenons on each end. The uprights are held in place with ¼" dowels. They are braced to help lessen tension caused as it swings around. Between the uprights is a partition. With this in place, the two chambers are roughly square. Items can be put in to serve as a counterweight and be relatively jostle-free. The holes in the top of the uprights are where the box will attach to the arm.

Each half of the box should hold nine stacks of pennies, forty pennies high. This is about four and a half pounds. That is a quite a load. The model is 1/20th scale. So, if it were full scale, it would multiply by 20 in each of three dimensions. So 4.5 pounds x 20 x 20 x 20 = (pulling up the handy Windows Calculator) 36000 pounds! That's 18 tons of scaled counterweight! Not sure if we'll need that much, but it's good to know the power is available.

Here's the counterweight box with the frame completed so far. I checked the width, and the box does fit between the uprights. There's a little bit of wiggle room, but not much. When the arm goes onto the frame, I'll have to make sure it swings back and forth, but not side to side.

Trebuchet: Part 07

2008-06-17T19:17:00.005-05:00

Here is the arm. This is the main swinging part that flings stones, horses, or bouquets. The large hole is where the main axle is going to be. There's a smaller hole near the left end where the uprights from the counterweight box will attach.

Here's a closer picture of the end pin lashed to the arm. It's not exactly round. But it's pretty close considering I sanded it down from being square. And it's smooth for a cleaner release of the sling.

Trebuchet: Part 08

2008-06-17T22:46:00.005-05:00

I attached the counterweight bucket to the arm.

But then a bad thing happened. I was lining up the fit for the gussets and tracks which help support the axle and keep the arm from wobbling. I realized there wasn't enough room between them for the arm to swing. I thought maybe there was a problem with them, so I started grinding them down. But then after more measuring I found the true problem. The space between the A-frames at the bottom was 4 inches, but only 3.5 at the top! Apparently when I was putting on the diagonal braces, they created too much inward pressure. If I had known that, I could have put a 4 inch block or something in there to stabilize it in the correct position until the glue dried. But all is not lost yet. I've wedged some blocks in between the frames to spread it to about 4.5 inches. I'll leave it like that for a day, and see if that helps out. If not, I can go back to grinding axle holders. But it's not the most elegant solution.

Trebuchet: Part 09

2008-06-19T20:56:00.001-05:00

Well, after putting slight stress on the A-frames, they did separate a bit. But shortly after removing the separating blocks they started leaning in again. I went ahead and attached the axle guides and the gusset underneath to help support them. I have placed the arm behind the axle guides here to show the width variance. The bottom part is non trimmed. The top half has been trimmed. So, if there ends up being too much friction to allow the arm to swing well, I can just dremel off some of the bottom pieces.

Here are the rim parts to make one half of one of the winching wheels.

And the same parts for all the rest of the wheels before my knife, round file, and sand paper get to them.

Ah, much better. That's something I can work with!

And work with it I did. These are the winch wheels. They attach together in pairs with dowels separating them. Then an axle runs through the middle that is part of the winching system. In full scale ones, people would get inside and climb up the wall like a hamster in a wheel. This would provide slow, but powerful winching strength to draw down the swing arm. But more on that as that part gets built. One of the harder parts of building this will be to lash the dowels to the wheels. There are 26 notches in each wheel, so two sets will be 52 dowels. Each dowel connects to two wheels, so that's 104 miniature lash weaves. I may just go with glue for that part.

Trebuchet: Part 10

2008-06-25T23:37:00.002-05:00

I stayed up later than I probably should have working on the trebuchet. But I got a lot done on it. Prepare for a long post.

Here are the smaller dowel pieces I cut from the very long ones. These will be used as tread dowels to combine the two sides of the winch wheels.

Here I have a few in place. I'm just using glue for now. That's why the rubberbands are there. I'll take those off after a day or so after the glue has fully dried. Eventually, I may use some twine to lash the dowels to the wheels. It would help a lot structurally, but it would mostly just look really cool. But the glue should do fine for now.

All the dowels are on the first winch wheel. You may notice the edges of the dowels are a little rough. That's because they came from a much, much longer rod. After measuring the length I needed, I scored it a bit and snapped it off. On the dowels used other places I sanded the ends after doing that. But there's just too many to do that here. Besides, maybe it makes it look more authentic? If I need to, I can always sand down the ends quickly with a dremel. Depends on how it looks once it's all together.

Both winch wheels assembled and sitting in their approximate final place.

A few of the axle holes needed to be reamed out a bit. These axles will be involved with the pulley system, so they need to spin freely. Note to self: when using a manual round file to make an existing hole a bit bigger, be careful where placing the bracing hand. When the file suddenly released on the other side, it grazed the top of my knuckle a bit. Just a scrape, but I figured I better band-aid it up. I'm guessing it wouldn't be good to get sawdust in a wound.

Good news on the A-frame width! While reaming the holes through the A-frames and holding the sub-frame, I accidentally loosened the glued connection there. And with a little more wiggle and prying, I was able to separate it. Then I sanded down the tops of those outrigger supports that were pushing in too hard. This time when I glued it all in, I used a level. Success!

Additions to the subframe to hold the winch wheels. That longer horizontal dowel is the axle where the winch wheels will attach. It will move with the wheels, but spin easily within the A-frames.

Both winch wheels attached. There are axle struts on the frame to solidify the stability of the wheels.

The trolley block. The twine from the winch axle will eventually lead to here. This will go on the trolley line on the arm.

I forgot to put a trolley line on the arm! So I redid the lashing near the arm axle and left a loop on it. I then just tied a line between that loop and the bit of loop I left when lashing on the release pin at the end of the arm. In this picture you can see that line hanging there. And the arm/counterweight box sits on the axle between the A-frames just fine now. I think this is going to work!

Lots of the pieces together, and it looks like a trebuchet! Just a bit more for completion. The main thing left is the trigger. Once the arm has been winched down, it will be held down by some more twine going across the top of it. Then the winch line can be released. That way, when it's fired, there won't be the drag of the winch unwinding. After the trigger, I think all that will be left is the sling and the trough. Seems like I'm missing something, though. The winch wheel axle is held in place with spacers which are glued onto the axle. But the rear and front dowels have nothing like that. As it is now, they can slide out of the holes. I could put some kind of stop on the dowel inside the frame. Just need to figure out what to use.

Trebuchet: Part 11

2008-06-26T23:24:00.005-05:00

Here I have attached the trolley block to the end of some twine which has the other end wrapped around the winch axle. The line goes down and traverses the length of the trebuchet underneath where the trough will be.

Here is the trigger system. The closest dowel has a loop of twine tied to it. The further dowel has a lever with a pin on it. When the arm is down, the twine will go over it and hook onto the pin on the other side. To fire, the latch gets pulled, the pin goes up, and the twine loop is released, which releases the arm.

It is completed! The sling is now hanging from the end of the arm. The trough is now lying along the centerline. I'll try firing it tomorrow after the firing mechanism has had plenty of time to dry. I bought about 500 water balloons for four bucks. By the way, the winching system isn't really necessary for the operation of this small size trebuchet. This is just table size, so it's small enough that it's easy to just pull the arm down. But it's great to see how the arm was pulled down on full size versions back in the day.

Test Fire - Day One

2008-06-28T10:58:00.004-05:00

Day one of testing the Bouquet Trebuchet:

The goal was to launch a small water balloon from Matt's patio, across Prestonwood Road, and into the parking lot of an office building. However, we ran into a bit of a problem early on. The ammunition kept falling into friendly territory. "Incoming!"
We spent several hour tinkering with lines, adjusting the launch pouch and adding to the counterweight. Yet it kept releasing too early. Finally we used a small wooden ball and it launched correctly.
Apparently water balloons are not ideal for trebuchet ammunition...

They got me!

2008-09-05T13:16:00.004-05:00

I'm on hold with Verizon. I'm calling them because instead of burying the FiOS cable like they were supposed to, they have it drooping low from the pole to the house. It's hanging through the tree and even resting slightly on the shed roof. That won't be good when the winds come. But while I'm waiting on hold, they Rick-Rolled me! It was a highly intrumentalized Muzak version, but I still recognized it. Now it will be in my head all day long. Good one, Verizon!

Watch Dr. Horrible

2008-08-04T15:13:00.003-05:00

Here it is, the three act, Dr. Horrible. It's just a bit over 40 minutes long. You can watch it for free now courtesy of Hulu or buy it in iTunes store for $3.99. Seriously. It's really good.

Today's the Day

2008-07-04T07:49:00.003-05:00

Today's Wedding Day. Less than 12 hours from now we'll be married. I think we both started freaking out a bit yesterday over all there is to do and details and stuff. I know I feel much better after getting some rest. I imagine Maegan does, too. And extra bonus! I found my iron and ironing board last night, so I won't have to wear a wrinkly shirt. I'm sure that will be nice.

By the way, the Trebuchet idea didn't pan out. It launches the little wooden balls the kit came with. It may launch golf balls well (I didn't have any to test). But it won't launch water balloons. They keep falling out of the sling barely before it swings around. And while this kit has great detail for the winch, it has a fixed release pin. Next version I'll need to have something adjustable for items with varying weight.