Why Johnny Can't Spell

I found this pencil in the hallway at school.

I know it's misspelled on purpose, but still, that's sad. I'm really tired of seeing products manufactured for children that have "cool" misspellings on them. It's not helping anyone.

I'm looking at you, Toys-backward R-Us.

Strike a Pose

Daphne took this picture because it was the first time Bo slept on Charlotte's lap. What strikes me about this photo is how Char and I watch TV is such a similar position.

I think the habits we inherit are fascinating.

If you're curious, we're watching Milo and Otis.

Helping Out a PAL

I found this pocket knife at the thrift store last night. It's in pretty sad shape, but I enjoy cleaning up old stuff like this. Besides, a guy can't have enough pals.

I usually attack rusted metal with my grinder's wire wheel, but sometimes that hand is too heavy. The rust is removed, but it leaves the surface in a brushed, grey tone. I was wondering how good of a job my brass shell tumbler could do. 

The bolster was so crusty I would have broken off my fingernails if I tried to force the blades open.

Instead of self-injury, I turned to Kroil. The stuff is pretty awesome.

After a 15 minute soak, the blades opened up. You can see how rusted they are.

I filled my tumbler with the crushed walnut shells I bought at Petco, tossed in the knife, and squirted in a bit of Flitz metal polish. 

Now all I have to do is turn it on.

I ran the tumbler all night, and this morning I checked to see how the knife was doing.

We're not there, yet, but you can see some progress. My plan is to run the tumbler for a few more nights, and I'll check what it looks like each morning.

The tumbler did a great job on my pinball parts, so I'm curious how much help it will give my pal.

Faces From the Weekend

We went to Merle Hay Mall to check out their new Flix Brewhouse on Saturday morning. You get big, comfortable chairs, a food and drink sever, and a tray that pulls out towards you to make eating while watching movies possible. It's also like an airport, you book your seats in advance, and they call you over the intercom when your row is seating.

That morning they were throwing a PJ party for kids while they showed Ice Age 2. We only had their popcorn, but next time I think we'll order the breakfast pizza. I saw one delivered to the row behind us, and it looked pretty good.

On Sunday we went to church. For the last two years Char and I have hung out in the playroom after the service. But I think those days are numbered. Char's outgrowing the toys, mentally and physically, and you can tell she doesn't like me to point that out. 

After lunch we went shopping at the Brass Armadillo antique mall - they were having a 15% off sale. Char did not want to go whatsoever, but after she found a Tinkerbell bank for $4, she declared Brass Armadillo, "The best store EVER!"

I didn't find anything to buy. I did see this book cover, though.

Is it just me, or does it look like Santa's winking because he's thinking you're checking out his bottom? 

Saucy Santa.

Hidden Honesty

Last week we had a daddy-daughter day, and we broke the routine by stopping by Burger King instead of McDonald's.

Check out their kids' meal carrier.

Let's zoom in.

Didn't see that truth coming.

Pinball Update: Cheap Piece of Mind

I found a web page dedicated to Mars Trek owners. One gentleman in Australia posted a picture of his back glass that had been cracked during transport. He's been looking for a replacement for 15 years.

A cracked back glass won't effect how the pinball machine works, but I think it would greatly reduce the resale value. When the guys at the Internet Pinball Machine Database rate a game, the first thing they grade is a machine's artwork.

Sure, art is subjective, but nobody appreciates broken glass.

Char recently had a friend over, and they were playing in our basement. When Char offered him a plastic ball, he roared like a monster and slapped it out of her hand. The ball sailed across the room and bounced harmlessly off the wall. The ball didn't even come close to my back glass, but it freaked me out a bit.

I can't keep Char from playing downstairs, and I know accidents happen (especially mine), but maybe a little extra protection could help my worst-case scenario anxieties. 

I measured the back box and it's 30 inches wide and about 27 inches long. I found a clear sheet of acrylic that measured 36 x 30 inches (.093 inch thick) for $24 at Home Depot. The manufacturer says that the acrylic is 20 times stronger than glass. Sounds good to me.

I did my best to cut the acrylic into the correct length, but I messed it up some. Luckily, you can sand the edge into sometime more presentable. Here's the cut sheet.

I had a few ideas of how I was going to mount the acrylic to the back box, but instead of making brackets I opted to drill two small holes in the plastic, and I hammered two small nails into the top front of the back box. You can see that the cabinet is a bit worn after 38 years, so I don't think two small nail holes will hurt anything. They can be easily filled and painted. The back box could use a touch up anyway.

The front of the back box angles away from you as it descends, so I used sticky tact to keep the bottom of the plastic sheet attached to the box.

Here's the back box with the protection sheet installed. See, the nails are tiny.

And here's the back box without the protective layer.

The acrylic sheet is almost invisible, and when my father-in-law was pointing out which number he matched, he smacked the plastic hard with the wedding ring on his left hand. But the glass was safe!

I don't plan to keep the sheet on the box 24-7. There's a chance that heat or humidity could be trapped behind the plastic and do unintended damage, but when we have kids running around the house I'll hang it on the machine.

Maybe all of this is silly, but since it makes me feel better, it already works.

Paging Dr. Earl

During a spirited game of chase, Charlotte stubbed her toe against a wooden chair leg. I know how much that hurts. Daphne came to her aid, and Charlotte sobbed in her mother's lap.

While she was crying, our cat Earl walked over, climbed onto Char, gave her a hug, and started purring. He wouldn't move until she stopped crying.

His medication worked. Char forgot her toe and just hugged her cat back.

Pets are cool.

Pinball Update: I Blame Sesame Street

I think this is where my pinball obsession began.

Seriously catchy.

Walkin' in a Winter Wonder Zoo

If you're a fan of big cats, then go to the Blank Park Zoo in the winter. The decorative rocks near the windows in the animals' habitats are heated, and that's where the lions and tigers hang out. Standing next to the glass is as close as you're going to get without a veterinary degree.

Also, the zoo is all but empty, and you can sit in as many butterfly chairs as you want.

Pinball Update: Going Clear

I found "Tim Arnold's 'Things Not To Do to a Pinball'" list while researching pinball maintenance. It's an interesting read of 39 dos and don'ts. Mr. Arnold runs the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas (Daphne and I have been there), and I've seen him on TV in different episodes of American Restoration. I'm pretty sure he knows what he's talking about.

The first project I did came from rule #37:

"37 - BEER-SEAL YOUR GLASS
Apply weather strip to glass or front cap to prevent liquids from flowing into front of table. Replace when cracked or dry!"

See that metal strip that runs across the front, top edge of the cabinet? That's called the front cap or lockdown bar.

You can remove it by opening the coin door and pulling down a latch. The lockdown then slides right up and out. I used my fingernail to remove the gunky gasket that was under the lockdown bar, and I used Goo Gone to clean up the mess. Then I went to Home Depot and picked up some weather stripping for a couple of bucks. 

Here's a close up.

I'm not going to put any drinks on my pinball machine; I have a cup holder, but I can see Charlotte mistaking it as a place to put a glass of milk when she playing in the basement. Now I don't have to worry about that. Speaking of worry, here comes rule #16.

"16 - TEMPERED GLASS! LEARN IT! LOVE IT! LIVE IT!
Plate glass is not very strong and breaks very sharp! On any glass, remember the 10" Rule! Lift to your feet, then the floor!"

Tempered glass shatters into a thousand little fragments when it breaks, and plate glass breaks into great big glass shards. If you have a little girl, or cats that like to jump on stuff like I do, then you probably don't want the glass shards. I had these terrible visions of a cat jumping onto the machine, breaking the glass, and then being either being impaled or dismembered.  I don't even want to think about Charlotte reaching into that sharp glass trying retrieve her sippy cup of milk... Brrr.

That's one of my personality quirks. I tend to be a worst-case scenario kind of guy. And that made it time to find out if my glass was tempered or plate. But how? If there isn't a mark that reads "tempered", then there's no way to tell just by looking. I found the answer on websites dedicated to home aquariums. Some aquarium owners modify them by drilling holes in the glass so they can add a sump pump. If their tank is made of tempered glass and they try to drill it, then it will shatter. So, they developed a tempered glass test.

It's pretty simple. I took my laptop from work home, found a web page that was all blue, held the screen behind the glass, put on some polarized glasses (I used the 3D glasses they give you at the movie theater), and looked through the glass at the blue screen. If you see black lines or a darkened smudge in the glass, then it's tempered. Seeing no lines means plate glass.

Here's an example the test showing tempered glass. You can see the vertical lines/ smudge in the right lens of the glasses, but it's not there below or above the glasses.

I first tried the test on my car door's window, because that has to be tempered (safety glass), and I could easily see the lines. Then I tried the pinball machine glass. It was plate glass. Dang!

I requested an online estimate from several local glass businesses, but only Sassman Glass and Mirror  got back to me. They quoted $54 plus tax for a 21 x 43 x 3/16 inch sheet of tempered glass. Done.

I picked up the glass yesterday, and it slid right into place. I'd show you a picture of the glass, but there's nothing to see.

It's as clear as my conscience.

link: Tim Arnold's "Things Not to Do to a Pinball Machine"

Pinball Update: Taking a Spin

My Mars Trek pinball machine has two spinning targets. They're fun to hit, and you can see they have taken a beating over the years

I was really surprised to see that I could buy new decals to freshen them up.

I was also able to straighten the support bar a bit while I was in there.

I didn't notice that I put the left decal on upside down, until I took this picture. Oh well, I'll just call that "artistic license".

A different problem I have with the spinners is that sometimes they get stuck in a horizontal position, and the ball rolls underneath without making them spin. Or worse, they get stuck upside down, and the switch they activate stays in the "on" position.  If this switch stays on too long, then the DC current will burn out the components.

The secret is to keep the wires that extend from either side of the spinners as straight as possible, but it's not hard for the pinball to bend them when it gets up to speed. One solution posted on the Pinside forums suggested sticking adhesive lure weights to the bottom of the spinner to keep it returning to the proper position. That sounded interesting, so I drove out to Bass Pro to buy the weights.

Here's a weight. The adhesive strip is on the back.

Here it is on the bottom of the spinner. The weight's made of lead, so I washed my hands right after taking this piscture.

The weight doesn't seem to have any effect on the spinning action, but the spinner stops in the right spot much more often. After some trial and error I found that a weight cut in half works best.

While I was at Bass Pro I also bought a brass shell tumbler.

It's sold for cleaning up spent, brass cartridges, but it will clean up other types of metal. You fill it with "media" (I like the crushed walnut shells that they sell at Petco) and a few drops of metal cleaner. Throw in what you want polished, and the machine do its work overnight while you sleep. It is a little loud, so I keep it in the garage.

So far I've used it to polish up the leg bolts, the plunger, and an old padlock I found. I can see myself using this machine on all kinds of different projects (bike parts, car parts, skateboard trucks...) for years to come. To quote Ron Popeil, "Just set it and forget it."

Fuzzy Logic Wins?

Back in December I noticed that a headlight in Daph's car had burned out. I checked the Toyota's manual to find the bulb's information, and this is what I read. See *1:

This is the headlight unit.

And this is what it costs to replace it.

When I told Daphne she exclaimed, "It's $387 to replace a headlight bulb? You have got to be kidding me!" I felt pretty sure there was another way.

And there was. I found a video at Car Care Kiosk showing how to replace the low beam bulb in the unit. It took me about 15 minutes to pull out the old bulb and install the $15 replacement. That saved us about $371.

Hmmm. That got me thinking, "$371. That savings is more than half of what I spent on our pinball machine. That means I could buy another pinball machine and it wouldn't cost us more that $229. $229 is pretty cheap for something as cool as another pinball machine."

"And you know what, if Daphne's other light goes out, and it probably will, I'll save another $371. That'll be $742. I can buy an even better pinball machine than I have now. This a great deal! Thanks, Mazda manual. You were more help than I could have imagined!"  

Fuzzy logic wins!

Unfortunately, I don't think Daphne will go for it.


Update '18: I replaced the drivers' side lightbulb last Friday, but Advanced Auto Parts website directed me to bulb 9005. Wrong:

I needed an H7 bulb instead, and I didn't discover that until I opened the 9005 package. So, I couldn't return the 9005 bulb even though I hadn't touched it. $17 down the drain.

Next time get bulb HZ and be aware that it has to be seated in the plasic connector that is original to the car. 

A Security Investment for the Future

This is Pinky.

You can often find him (yes, he is a boy) in the pictures of Charlotte because he is her best buddy. He sleeps with her, he eats at the dinner table with her, and often he is there when she takes her bath. He has been to Minnesota, South Dakota, and Missouri. He might have missed a few naps in the car, but he has slept with Char for most of her life. "Where's Pinky?" is usually the first thing I hear from the depths of Charlotte's rumpled bedcovers when I wake her at 6:15.

This is Hop-Hop.

You won't see her (yes, she is a girl) in many pictures; she spends most of her day on Charlotte's bed waiting for night time and a chance to get a little love. Although she came first, she has not bonded with Charlotte as tightly as Pinky has. I don't know why.

Hop-Hop was given to Charlotte when she was born, and when Char was old enough to recognize her surroundings, Hop-Hop became very important to Char. In fact, she was such a big part of Char's world that Daphne went to Target to buy a replacement in case the blanket got lost. Unfortunately, Target was sold out and the closest item for sale was a pink giraffe (enter Pinky).

I don't remember the exact day of the transition, but I do remember Daphne tapping my shoulder before I carried Char out to the car, "No. She wants Pinky to go with her to day care." Although Char couldn't talk at the time, she was pretty good at letting us know what she wanted.  Here's a video example. It's two minutes long, but you can see she pretty quickly that she wants a quilt that's on the bottom of a quilt stack.

Fast-forward to age four, and we now own two Pinkies.

One Pinky stays at day care (for nap time) and the original stays at home. Well, Pinky Monson is suppose to stay at home, but sometimes he has to go to day care, and sometimes the wrong Pinky gets into our bag when we're in a hurry to get home, and then sometimes someone drives across town to get the right Pinky in the right place. Even though the blankets appeared identical to us, Char could always tell the difference.

Years ago I went back to Target buy a third Pinky. I had the idea that I'd seal it up in a plastic bag, hide it in my closet, and then give to Char when she was old enough to move out on her own. Cheesy, I know, but that's me.

It reminds me of this comic by Phil Sloan.

The problem with that plan was I waited too long. Carter's "Just One You"/ "Mommy's Cutie" giraffe blankets have been discontinued. Check out what one eBay seller wants for one.

That price is pretty steep when you consider that this isn't a collectable. It's just a child's security blanket. I think this seller is banking on the chance that some little kid has lost their special buddy and the desperate parents are willing to pay anything to make things right.

This looks better. $23 is still too much, but considering supply and demand, the price isn't too over the top.

Funny thing is, when Charlotte actually leaves home, it going to be Mom and Dad who will need the extra security. Maybe I better save that Pinky for myself.