Flexistentialism Welcome Guest | Login or Register

After some cajoling, we both managed to get back to STL for a few days to see friends. Friends who turned out in force! It was a nice present to have friends who let us stay with them and borrow their vehicles (wow, how easy that made it), and of course many friends whom we saw, ate cheap, great food with (oh Mai Lee…how I miss you, and your #126), shopped with, and visited old neighborhoods with.

Perhaps one of the most rewarding aspects was that so many of our friends in this city think a great deal about what MAKES a good city, a good neighborhood, a good block. Sam and I are thinking a great deal about this too after reading the majority of a very dense but altogether sensible book called A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander. Sitting in at close to 1200 pages, I think we should be forgiven for jumping over a few pages, but by and large, this tome on design of all types and sizes of spaces written in the 1970s has a ton of good ideas that seem common sense but don’t automatically spring to mind. Like, what kinds of neighborhoods inspire the residents to walk instead of drive? Some say they want a jumbomart to get everything in one place, but large numbers of people find a corner grocery to be useful for most of their needs. How big should a town square be in order to be more inviting for a variety of people? How do you even design housing to encourage a diversity of ages, socio-economic class, and family types to move in? These questions are thought about a lot when you don’t consider your own city to be ideal, and the residents of STL certainly are hard on theirs. But many of our friends are improving their city actively through day jobs or weekend projects: from working with local arts and youth organizations to renovating a house in a neighborhood that needs a lot of work, from building a rooftop garden at work to becoming a teacher or building a sculpture for a public event, we’re lucky to know so many people who think so much about how to make their city a better place to be. And stranger still, most of these people flow effortlessly between white collar and blue collar jobs – and mingle with a combination of both in their neighborhoods and friend groups. Few cities in the U.S. really achieve this.

That’s actually two concepts, but I still appreciate both. And it’s exciting for us to see all the things our friends have accomplished since we moved – even if it’s buying a ‘76 camper named a “scamp” or plotting hijinks for their upcoming wedding. In the meantime, we’ll try to improve the city we live in now, even if most of the residents here have a much higher opinion of their city and don’t believe it needs help, change or any more people in it. It takes time, naturally, to tap in to the improvement elements in a city.

For a long time, I’ve enjoyed learning about where our food comes from and which ways of obtaining it are good for us, and good for the environment. I really dislike taking single words like “organic”, “natural”, or even “fresh” at face value to reassure my choices and dismiss my responsibility to know what I’m eating. (An unfortunately popular technique especially in this city). Usually there are few or confusing regulations on using these words, so I find that keeping up on current research and reading full labels and ingredient lists gives me a more accurate picture of what’s the better choice. (Some of the most fascinating stuff if you’re interested comes from Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dillema and this blog on nutrition and individual foods: http://fanaticcook.blogspot.com/)

Side note: actually, that blog is even more broad. It’s also about cooking, news from the FDA and USDA, and other changes in the American nutritional scene. I suggest everyone check it out, as the blogger has much experience with the study of nutrition, and before that, a career in engineering. The writing covers a lot of territory without it being too dense. I don’t always agree, but it certainly allows one to make better informed decisions about food.

All of this leads up to what I did this weekend. My family has a long standing tradition of giving away food for the holiday. Nothing strange about that, across the country people give cookies, pastries, cheeses, wine and a number of other foods to friends and neighbors at this time of year. What’s weird is the effort my parents have put into producing a food item that they can give an entire story to and even now take great pride in the process, repeating the story at the drop of a hat. For all their effort, they give an American food standard: wheat bread.

It’s uncommon to know the full path of a single food product, and even here I can’t tell you backstory about the honey, yeast or salt in the bread. I can tell you, however, exactly the origin of the main ingredient, wheat flour.

One of my uncles is a farmer whose primary crop is wheat (by volume…it’s very difficult to make a profit on wheat without being an industrial sized farm, so heifers are the more necessary ‘crop’). Most every year, my dad goes down to help him bring in the winter wheat crop, and brings back a big box of unprocessed wheat grain. Once back at my parents house, he grinds the wheat in his own hand-turned grinder. My mom takes the wheat and turns it into bread, which is then delivered hot and fragrant one weekend in December to friends and neighbors.

This year, I’m nearby, so I was quickly recruited for this year’s process. My mom has a problem with her arm currently that makes it pretty painful to complete manual labor like kneading. Therefore, the bread making became a two person process – she combined ingredients in the mixer, and turned it out into a bigger pile of flour in a bowl where I took over kneading the bread. After letting the bread rise, I rolled each batch out, separated it into quarters, and rolled each up into pretty loaves to rise again and bake to a golden surface.

There are a few inconsistencies here. Those who know me are probably suspicious at this point that I would spend any time, much less a full day involving 8 batches or 32 loaves of bread-making in the kitchen. WHY would I be so involved in this process? OK, I admit, the first reason was guilt. It’s been years since I helped with this, and there is nothing wrong with my arms, so why wouldn’t I help with the labor intensive parts? Secondly, though, it’s important to walk the talk. I don’t know where every food I eat comes from, but helping others to have a relatively healthy food item that we do know a lot about is a good thing. Thirdly, now’s a good of a time as any to learn the techniques inherent in making homemade bread. It certainly wasn’t explicit in the recipe, so hands-on learning helped me create muscle and sensory memory of what the bread feels/smells/looks like at each stage if done right. And fourthly, it made me more popular with both family for helping out and neighbors for delivering two of the loaves that warm up a snowy winter night.

One of the most enjoyable part of my recent travels was developing my new hobby, helping others embrace the mohawk. Of course you already know that mohawks, besides being an attractive and hassle-free (should you choose a short version) hair style, attract many members of the opposite/same sex, and clearly state your intention to not belong to the crowd, but yet, kinda belong to the crowd…the cool crowd, not “The Man” crowd, of course.

I cut my first mohawk in May, on a whim with borrowed materials. My friend crouched over a trashcan to catch his hair, and I used a water fire extinguisher to clean him off. All considered, it turned out great (see below). It goes without saying that shortly after receiving his new haircut, he met a girl, they fell in love, and they are flying back and forth in a long-distance relationship even now. True story.

I took with me on my travels all the needed materials to cut more mohawks: clippers and guards, sheets to protect the client and the ground, a chair, hair clips, germ-killing solution, broom and dustpan, and self-made guides so each person can choose 1 inch, 1.5 inch, 2 inch, or the ridiculous 3 inch wide ‘hawk. (I do this for free, so should you feel the need for a ‘hawk, let me know.) I made up clever signs illustrating several happy mohawk-wearers, and waited. Luckily, my selected spot was near a very social bar, filled with friends who eagerly directed curious mohawk seekers my direction. Over two days, I cut 6 mohawks, and 1 bihawk (under protest – it is NOT a mohawk!). I wish I had pictures to show you, but so far most of the pictures were taken on cameras not my own, so it’ll have to wait until I have shots of said artwork. I had two happy helpers at different times as well, which just illustrates how much fun mohawk-cutting is as a hobby.

Funnily enough, Sam was gone for all of this time, and didn’t get to see my handiwork, though several of my clients stopped by to see me later that week, shyly pleased with the many compliments they had received since changing their hairstyle. Since Sam seemed a little skeptical that I could have gotten so much experience under my belt so quickly, I set up an appointment for a friend in Colorado once we returned. His mohawk is displayed to the right, and he is the envy of all his co-workers:

Of course, once Sam got home, it was his turn.

I love my new hobby.

I just finished building a new longboard deck. I had cut and shaped the deck several months ago, and then it proceeded to sit lonesome and unused until the other day when I started work on it again.

The deck is made from two sheets of 6mm Baltic Birch plywood laminated together, for a total of 10 plies of hardwood birch. The laminating is done by taking two planks, about 50” by 12”, and gluing them together with a layer of Titebond III glue. While they are gluing, you clamp them together in such a way as to induce a shape. In my case, I made a bunch of clamps out of 2×4s with bolts on the ends. They slip over the glued planks, and bolt down. By slipping bits of wood spacers and shims under the clamps in various places, I induced a shape. In this case, a little bit of concave (the deck curves up a bit at the edges, hotdog style), and a bit of a kick tail. No camber (an arched middle of the deck, like my last one).

When the deck is dry, you pull it out of the clamps, and cut it to the correct shape, routing down the edges, and sanding it smooth. Then you mark and drill the holes according to your template. I drew up the template in Adobe Illustrator, and printed it out on many sheets of paper so I had a life-size pattern to work from.

Next, I needed to apply a layer of fiberglass to the bottom for stiffness. I used 6oz S-Glass, which is a special fiberglass formulation for strength. I used the less-toxic Epoxy resin with it, instead of the traditional Polyester resin used in boat making. I had intended to use a vacuum bag to secure the fiberglass, which is a large bag like those ‘food saver’ bags that allows you to squish the fiberglass onto the deck with the force of air pressure. Unfortunately, my vacuum bag lost its seal, and I couldn’t repair it in time. Once the epoxy resin is mixed and layed down, you don’t have a choice, you must proceed.

So, I was forced to proceed using traditional clamps and weights to smooth the fiberglass. It turned out less smooth than I was hoping, but thats OK. I also used the opportunity to apply graphics. I printed out designs on rice paper, and then laminated them under the fiberglass. Rice paper turns transparent when it is soaked with the epoxy resin, so it looks like I printed right onto the deck. The top of the deck got a coat of resin as well, mixed with silica sand, so it would have texture and grip. I added a graphic to the top as well.

After a good wetsanding, I put down a final coat of exterior polyurethane for UV protection. Then, I began the grueling 48 hour wait to allow everything to harden up before assembly.

The trucks are Original, which use a very unique mechanism involving two rigid saddle-shaped bushings to create an unbelievable turning radius, and a very unique feeling of control. They take a bit of getting used to, but are really incredible trucks. The wheels are big 76mm Gumballs, they present a lot of urethane to the ground, and are very large, so they roll over anything. Plus, they are bright green.

The deck rides very nicely. It is a bit flexy, but has some snap to it too. The trucks carve very deeply, and as you turn, the deck gets lower, and your weight compresses the deck, changing the truck angle, and making them turn tighter. Hence, it feels like it ‘dives’ into turns, which is a fun feeling. Longboard enthusiasts say that when you’ve got three decks, you’ve got a ‘quiver’. I’ve got another set of plywood blanks in the basement, so soon enough, I’ll have a quiver of my own.

The little guy is the Bodhidharma, the Buddhist monk who founded the Zen school of Buddhism during the 6th century in China. In Japan, they make little dolls of him called Daruma Dolls. They are round little things, with no arms or legs, and his trademark eyebrows. When you buy the doll, it has no eyes drawn in. You fill in one eye when you make a wish, or a resolution for personal improvement. When it comes true, you fill in the other eye. My Daruma has only one eye filled in, because I’ve got a lot of wishes, and I don’t expect them to be fulfilled any time soon.

The calligraphy is by Hakuin Ekaku, a very influential monk in Japan who founded the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism, and is considered to be the monk who made Zen what it is today. The calligraphy reads, “Zen points directly to the heart; see into your nature, and become Buddha.” It sounds cheesy, but it’s true. You don’t need other people to make you spiritually enlightened, it’s already inside you, you just need to see it.

I’ve been enjoying the website Instructables.com which offers users the ability to create how-tos on nearly any topic, and then share them, and comment and rate one another’s instructables. The website is created and sponsored by Squid Labs, who are reputable people. It is a simple, but effective interface, and I’ve translated two of my recipes, Thai Iced Tea, and Vietnamese Iced Coffee, into instructables.

There are also some great instructables from the Graffiti Research Labs, such as their famous LED Throwies, and their useful High Writer.

It’s a unique setup, and a fun way to share, and learn, interesting ways of doing things. Enjoy!

Today I finished a project I’d been working on for a while. My own messenger bag! For several years I owned a Timbuk2 bag that I really enjoyed. It worked great, was custom made, and served me well. Unfortunately, one night it was stolen from the back seat of a friend’s car through a smashed window. The bag was the most valuable part of that theft, since it had very little in it at the time, a pair of pliers that I miss now and again, and an old book I was reading.

It’s been about two years since that happened, and I still have not replaced the bag. I use a cheap Swiss Army laptop bag for my regular bag duties, and it functions, but pretty badly. It does not have the cross-wise stability strap necessary for a true cycling bag, and its internal compartments are terribly laid out. Not only that, its falling apart, wretched thing.

After comparing brands endlessly I found myself in a rut. I wanted a nice new bag, but I didn’t know who to buy from.. I could have it custom made from the ground up by Bagaboo in Hungary (nice bags), I could buy it off the shelf from Chrome, I could patronize Canada and get a PAC. The above are all great bags, but not exactly what I wanted, and not for what I wanted to pay.

Then I had a revelation, I decided to make my own!

I hit up a fabric store and found, in the remnant pile, several yards of black, grey and white camo vinyl, of the type used to upholster furniture. Its incredibly heavy duty waterproof material, and because no one in their right mind would upholster a couch with camoflauge, it was incredibly cheap.

The vinyl would be the liner, but I needed an outer layer. I did not feel like paying 12.00$ a yard for Cordura, which would have been the fabric of choice. I decided to go ‘old school’ and use some unbleached heavy canvas I had lying around. For color I ‘crystal wash’ dyed it with Procyon MX cotton dye.

I got some strap material and a few buckles at REI. Then I discovered that the company that makes most of these buckles, ITW-Nexus has a free sample program, and if you say you are a company, they will actually send you 15 free samples of their buckles, you pick what you want! I got most of my buckles free this way. They are very high quality buckles.

I designed my pattern in CAD, and then printed out a life-size copy using Adobe Illustrator. I taped together the many 11×17 sheets that came forth from the printer, and cut out my stencil. I cut out the pattern from the vinyl, and then from the canvas.

It is key to note that at this point I made a mistake. I dyed my canvas after cutting it, and during the washing process, it shrunk a bit. This messed up my pattern a bit, and caused me some trouble down the road. I should have dyed the whole piece of canvas, and then cut my pattern out afterwards.

I took my two pieces, and glued them together with 3M spray adhesive. I left the main flap unglued, however. I started by sewing the 2” D-rings into place. I reinforced the joints with the least graceful of all seamstering equipment, the pop riveter.

Then I began the process of sewing the main bag stitches. I was using a heavy duty upholstery thread, and a big fat needle meant for sewing leather. My friend’s mid-size Bernina had no trouble getting through the vinyl and canvas. I double stitched where I could. I began to suffer from the first of my shrunken canvas problems, as well. It was hard to get the canvas into all the seams, and so there are places where only the vinyl is sewn, and little loose flaps of canvas can pop out. It isn’t bad, but its unfortunate.

On one corner of the bag I looped a small piece of webbing with a 1” D-ring on it through the seam. This D-Ring would secure the cross strap that makes a crappy bag into a cyclist’s bag.

Once I had the main stitches in place, I began to add hardware. I was using 1” webbing for the auxilliary hardware, and so added two side release buckles, and ladder-locs for compression straps. The compression straps have been secured in place with more rivets. Because I had not yet glued down the main flap canvas, I was able to peel it back, and do all this sewing on the flap blind. That is, the items are sewn only to the vinyl, and the stitches disappear under the outer canvas layer when pulled down.

I added two large strips of velcro to the flap and the front of the bag. It is very beefy stuff, and had to be securely sewed in place, despite its adhesive backing.

I added a few more rivets here and there for good measure, and attacked the cosmetics. I used bias tape to sew a border onto the edges of the main pouch. Then I glued the main flap to its liner, and then ran a seam of bias tape along that edge as well.

To top it off, I took a 25 tooth cog from an unused cassette, polished it up, and riveted it to the flap of the bag with three pop rivets.

What is left to do? I’m going to fashion a set of interior pockets for holding pens and keys and stuff, and I need to get some more webbing for the cross strap, though all the hardware is in place. The main strap currently consists of 2” seatbelt style webbing with a cam buckle. The cross strap hardware slides up and down the main strap for easy adjustment, and comes with its own side release buckle. However, this strap is subject to lots of change. The strap is in many ways the most intricate part of this type of bag, and it warrants experimentation. This is why I didn’t sew the strap directly to the bag, opting instead to use D-Rings and snap hooks for easy strap interchangability. I’ll probably be stealing a cue from Chrome and using an old seatbelt buckle, once I can get myself down to the junk yard.

I need to find a suitable seam sealer for the interior seams to waterproof it, and I need to find a good cotton waterproofing compound for the outer layer.

Once I find a suitable carabeiner, I’ll be attaching it to the flap for a top handle.

What did I do wrong, or what would I do differently next time? I made the bag way too big. It’s huge. Giant. Bigger than I need, for sure. But it has good fit, so its OK. The next iteration will probably be much smaller. I’ll dye my canvas before cutting it next time. I’ll probably sew on more of my hardware before sewing the main stitches. It is awkward to move that whole big bag shape around while trying to stitch on a buckle.

However, I’m very happy with myself. See below for some photos, as well as an image of the pattern I used. You can emulate it if you desire.

The overall bag is about 23” x 13” x 9”, and I’m estimating practical capacity at 2700 cubic inches, or 44 liters. That is a big dang bag. When using the pattern, simple scale it until the bag is the size you want. You’ll need to adjust the size of the seam allowances and strap attachments if you vary the size too much.

Click for larger image

Here is the entire bag, in all its glory. As you can see, it’s pretty darn big. Dig on the crystal wash dye job, and the shiny cog.

Click for larger image

A closer image of the strap mechanism. This is subject to change as I figure out what I do and do not want in a strap. The snap hooks are a point of potential weakness, but they can be replaced with beefy metal ones once I settle on a strap design.

Click for larger image

The bag open, displaying the camo liner, and the velcro.

Click for larger image

This shows the compression straps on the bottom of the bag. They are riveted into place, and the Ladder-loc buckle for the compression strap is held in place by the bottom of the side release buckle strap for the main flap buckles. Clever, huh?

Compression straps are my favorite feature of bags, but are incredibly rare. Timbuk2 used to offer them as an option, but no longer does (that is actually the thing that caused me to reject purchasing another Timbuk2).

Click for larger image

This is where the cross strap connects to the bottom corner of the bag. The loop is sewn right into the seam, and there is a D-Ring and a snap hook for easy disassembly (like for flying).

Click for larger image

Here is the bag holding my helmet, to illustrate its size. I haven’t yet performed the customary “How Much Beer Does It Hold” test that all new messenger bags must be subjected to, because its lack of cross strap may affect my ability to carry that much beer. I’m guessing two 30-packs, plus a few extra bottles. It’s that big.

Click for larger image

Here is my skinny ass wearing the bag. Looks sharp, no? Actually, it dwarfs me. I think someone called that the “Turtle Effect”. Oh well, it’ll carry a lot of goodies.

Click for larger image

Here is the pattern for the bag. Just scale it up on the program of your choice, and print out on multiple sheets of paper to make a pattern stencil. Adobe Illustrator makes this easy, but I think other programs can do it as well. Remember to adjust the size of the buckle attachment points to keep them 2” and 1” wide, respectively.

I’ll update with more pictures once I get some interior pockets installed, and the top handle and cross strap.

If you drive a modern automatic (twist-n-go) scooter, then it is likely that your scooter has been restricted to prevent it from reaching its full power. This is typically done to keep the power and speed down so that the vehicle can be registered under scooter or moped classifications that many states have. This classification means many scooter drivers do not need license plates, special licenses, or expensive registrations.

However, how much fun is it to have a restricted vehicle? Not much. So if you’d like to get the full power out of your ride, you can remove the restrictions yourself, and enjoy a vehicle operating at its full potential.

This article deals with derestricting a 2004 Aprilia Mojito 50 (known as the Habana in Europe) and mentions specific differences with the technique for the Aprilia SR50 DiTech, since these two scooters share the same drivetrain. However, the derestriction techniques described here work on most modern automatic scooters, with some variation between brands and models. This document was originally written as a thread on the ApriliaForum by Scott (AKA Scootnfast) and all credit should go to him. He wrote the bulk of the document, and took the pictures. I am simply removing the info from the forum context, doing some editing for clarity and formatting, and putting it up for all to see (specifically Googlers).

For other articles available check out the list or read on to continue this article. Continue Reading »

Here are the three different shirt styles Berg and I made the other day. Each one was painted with an airbrush and stencils using water-based paint on cotton shirts. The shirts were $2 bucks a piece at Walgreens, pretty good I feel. The paint, while water-based, claims to be good for textiles. After painting, we let the paint dry, and then heat-set the ink with an iron. None of them have been through the wash yet, but I’m not expecting any problems.

The first stencil is one I made from a photo of my bike. It was cut on paperboard (the back of a cereal box) so the lines aren’t as precise as they could be.

Click for larger image

Berg drew this stencil freehand, and cut it right there on paperboard. The stencil only has one bottle, but he used a nice repetition to show it falling. Pretty shnixy!

Click for larger image

This stencil uses some odd found objects, such as a leafy branch, a key, an old-fashioned syringe and a plastic star to produce a bizarre image. There is a lot of weird imagery in this one… Look for the crucifix, then the phallus, then the drug imagery, then the phoenix, and then the suggestion that we are addicted to our artificial ways. Then step back, and remember that it is just a t-shirt.

Click for larger image