1995 Ford F150 Pick-Up: A Love Story

Today marks a new chapter in the life of one 1995 Ford F150 pick-up truck, which served me well for 12 years and 80k miles and is likely to continue serving its new owner another 12 years and 80k miles more.

First purchased in 1995 in lovely Buellton, Ca., a small dusty town best known for its close proximity to the Danish-maniacal city of Solvang, I came to be the owner in 1997 after buying it used from its trustworthy original owner. For five years following it was my trusty sidekick as I navigated the hills and narrow streets of San Francisco, and on several occasions its bulbous green camper shell provide refuge to stray homeless people, who discovered how to sneak inside the pickup, get a good night sleep, and clear out by dawn. After being delivered cross-country on the top rack of a semi it has since served its duty as a local commuter vehicle and dump-truck. Until today.

The 1995 F150 was the final year Ford produced this model truck following a nearly 30-year run. As a result, it was an shining example of American automotive engineering. It rarely if ever suffered mecahnical failures and survived the most brutal driving conditions. This truck will surely be missed.

Oh, Christmas Tree

We went to the a local garden center to buy a fresh-cut Coniferious Christmacus, aka Christmas Tree, yesterday. They were neatly displayed in a unique way I’d never seen before: hung by their tips from the ceiling with rope. Dozens of fresh-cut tree stems hovered 6 in. above ground, a surreal sight when captured with our Canon Rebel T1i.

Once home, the kids quickly trimmed the tree up right.

How to Make Replacement Scrabble Tiles

Make Your Own Scrabble Tiles

Lose a Scrabble tile? Don’t fret. Here’s a simple tutorial on how to make your own replacement tiles from scrap wood with basic hand tools.

For the love of Scrabble
We purchased the deluxe edition of Scrabble many years ago when we became Scrabble addicts mostly because the rotating tabletop makes it easy to play on the coffee table without knocking over drinks or messing up the tiles between plays.

Unfortunately, the kids have learned to love Scrabble as well (and we let them to encourage interaction with words and letters). But over the years we’ve lost 10 tiles to the vacuum or cleaning frenzies. To enjoy a Scrabble tourney this Thanksgiving, I was inspired to embark on a new Weekndr Project: How to Make Replacement Scrabble Tiles. Turns out it’s easy. You’ll need a piece of hardwood, a handsaw, sand paper (150 grit), and a hand plane.

Let’s get started

Step One: Find a long stick of hardwood that is close to the width and thickness of a Scrabble tile . Maple is ideal but I used white oak. Mill it to thickness and width using an actual Scrabble tile as your template.

Step Two: Since I don’t have a woodshop at home I used a simple bench hook (sometimes called a shooting board) on my kitchen countertop to support the wood piece while I milled it to exact width and thickness with a hand plane. Use a sander in a pinch or if you have a wood shop, use your thickness planer/bandsaw/tablesaw.

Step Three: Begin slicing off tiles one at a time with a handsaw (use a bandsaw or tablesaw if you have a shop).

 

Step Four: Between each cut, sand the tile smooth, and sand the freshly-sawn face of the stick in preparation for the next cut. Finally, write a letter on your new tile. If you’re ambitious, you can apply a stain or finish at this point. I’m relying on the oil from our fingers to finish the tiles after a few rounds of play.

Happy Thanksgiving! A Day in the Life

7:05 a.m. Thought about tuning in for early TV coverage of the Macy’s T-Day Parade. The crowd started at 6:30 a.m. EST. on and it airs on NBC by 9 a.m. Visit the Web site for some cool games and video and an annoying musical underscore.

7:18 a.m.: Started baking sweet potatoes for the Obama’s cumin-spiced Sweet Potato Casserole. Recipe from Us Weekly (no link).

7:24 a.m.: Read an article on NYTimes.com about the most-search food terms for Thanksgiving, via our favorite food site, Allrecipes.com. Sweet Potato Casserole  and Tofurky top the list. Read the article…

10:13 a.m.: Finished making replacement scrabble tiles and blogged about it (see next post).

11:45 a.m. Left the house headed for turkey dinner at the Diaz Family Farm!

1 p.m. Watched Sadie the Scottish Terrier win the National Dog Sow. I was rooting for the black lab or the miniature pincher to no avail.

2:00 p.m. Ate the bird. Became too tired to write any more.

3:00 p.m. Went for a walk.

4 p.m. Sat down.

8 p.m. Fell asleep.

Fact You Should Know: Large Hadron Collider

“…it also could unmask the long-sought Higgs boson particle, one of the most elusive and mysterious objects since the Yeti.”

- L.A. Times, Dec. 1, 2009

I had no idea that the Yeti was one of the most elusive and mysterious objects in all of science. Surely the human genome is more mysterious. Or perhaps even water on the moon?

Nonetheless, the  LA Times writes that scientists in Europe this week made a successful test run of the fabled Large Hadron Collider. Like something out of a science fiction film, the super-futuristic “particle accelerator” is being built to “recreate conditions that existed shortly after the Big Bang.”

Here’s how it works: the Hadron Collider sends two proton beams speeding in opposite directions through a 17-mile circular tunnel located 300 feet underground. When the beams collide at near the speed of light, the collision is expected to generate 14 trillion electron volts.

The LA Times surmises that the invention could “produce some of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 21st century.” Critics have feared that if it works it could create a black hole and vaporize the Universe, or something like that.

For these reasons and more, the Large Hadron Collider becomes the first-ever Weekndr Fact You Should Know.