There’s been so much Holly stuff on here lately, that I thought I’d better give Andrew some equal billing. Here’s what he’s been up to lately: Ace and his buddies skating better than you might expect:
General goofing off:
The Lady Cubs are rapidly improving their volleyball skills, and have won a couple of games, but have yet to win a match. In Monday’s matchup against the Coble Coyotes, the entire team did well in the very close first game, and continued to impress in the second game, even though they had some tough breaks and allowed the Coyotes to take a huge lead early. The fact they never gave up, and continued doing their best even when they were down, was great to see. Also great to see was Holly’s individual performance. She’s really learning to use her height and jumping ability to great advantage. She had some legitimate kills and a couple of stuffs. Here’s an excerpt from the Coach’s report on the match:
The A-Team fought but couldn’t come up with enough to overcome the Coyotes (22-25, 13-25). Outstanding Player of the Game was Holly Armstrong.
Holly’s volleyball team has been through some tough times in their short history. It was great to hear them say that they wouldn’t let a few bad experiences turn them off of the sport. During their first tournament, their perseverance finally paid off when they finally captured their first win. I was lucky enough to capture their reaction on video. Enjoy.
For the last couple of years, several of my Oklahoma kinfolk have come down to the DFW metroplex to attend the NHRA Fall Nationals Drag Races. We’ve had a house full of guests because we live so close to the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, TX, where the races are held. This year, Andrew and I decided to go along to see what all the fuss was about. 
When we first got to the track, we began to think the whole reason for the event was to get your picture taken with PR girls from various companies. Soon enough we found out there were other activities, like walking up and down pit row checking out the machinery, and playing in driving simulators. In the pits, we heard a few cars started up and “racked back”, and we were (almost literally) blown away by the power and noise. 
Eventually, we made it to our excellent seats. We were on the front couple of rows directly even with the starting line. Even that far removed from the action, the power and racket were awe-inspiring. Even with hearing protection, you could feel really it when these 7000-horsepower monsters blasted off. I’ve never experienced anything like it. It’s not something I’ll try to make it to every year, but it was a fun day, and I’m definitely glad I got to experience it at least once.
Holly’s 7th grade Art class had a discussion on Aboriginal art and Holly mentioned that her family happened to have “a few boomerangs”. The teacher wanted to see some, so the next day, Holly took a few to school. With all the questions of “Do they really come back?”, the whole class soon ended up out on the football field with Holly giving an impromptu demonstration. Luckily, she had also taken a lightweight Carlotta to show how more “modern” paintjobs contrast to the Aboriginal. So she had something easy to throw to start with. After she threw and caught the Carlotta, the teacher and other kids wanted to see one of the bigger boomerangs in action. Though Holly had never thrown anything so large, she made a go of it and got some good returns. The class was very impressed and now know that yes, they really do come back. The teacher sent me this photo of Holly holding some boomerangs in front of some of the class’s aboriginal art.
Holly felt good about her chances all throughout Volleyball team tryouts, and just watching her play around with the ball (and actually doing some bumping and setting with her) I felt good about her chances too. I’ve got to admit though, that I was a little worried about how she would take it if she turned out not to make the team. It turns out no worrying was needed. She made the A-Team! Some of her close friends (Taylor, Lulu, Amanda, Kelsey, Karolyn) also made the team, so this ought to be a fun season.
Holly decided she wants to play volleyball at school, so we signed her up for a volleyball camp (actually a “day camp”) to see if she really liked it. She does. Her and her friend Taylor attended the camp and had tons of fun and learned tons of stuff. We’ll see if this pays off when team tryouts come around after school starts.
Some guys on the Boomerang Talk Yahoo Group were talking about lighted boomerangs and I shared with them a sparkler boomerang video I had made a few years ago. I realized that I had never posted a video on YouTube and decided this would be a perfect way to start. Here it is:
For quite some time, I’ve been wanting to build a new rack for my A/V components in the home theater. I’ve got a three-year-old photo that claims that the white wire laundry shelf I was using was “very temporary”. After years of waiting for the proper inspiration to hit (read: “procrastination”), it finally did hit in the form of the “Flexy Rack”. I’m surprised it took me so long to come across this style of home-made racks, because once I knew what to look for, it turns out they’re super-popular. A Google search on “flexy rack” reveals that there are thousands of web pages about them. The original seems to be The TNT FleXy Table. Please note that “flexy” doesn’t mean that it twists or sways from side to side, but that the design is flexible in that it’s easy to change shelf spacing. 
Once I decided on this style, I started by drawing up simple diagrams on graph paper to make sure my equipment would fit. Next, I used a 2D drawing program to refine my dimensions further. Then I discovered Google’s free 3D drawing program “Sketchup“. It was fairly easy to learn, and soon I had created a design I liked. (Soon is a relative term. The reality is that I might have spent more time creating the 3D drawing than I spent on actual construction. If there’s any interest, I can post the Sketchup file.) 
At this point, I was ready to purchase materials. I elected to go with MDF panels because MDF is cheap, sturdy, and easy to work with. I went with 5/8″ all-thread rods. My length choices were either 3-foot or 6-foot. I wanted 4-foot. Instead of cutting 6-footers to size, I went with 3-footers and 1-footers, held together by couplers and extra nuts to lock them in place. I thought this extra hardware actually added to the overall “industrial” look. I originally bought casters that were too small, eventually returning them and getting a set of 2″ swivel casters. The full parts and price list appears below. Bottom line: I built this nice solid rack for under $150. Now it was time to cut the MDF panels to the correct shelf sizes. I don’t have a table saw, but I have a decent saw guide that I bought for my still-on-hold arcade cabinet project. I got good straight cuts that were easy to round over with the router. I used clamps and a wood-boring bit for drilling the holes.
It had been raining for several days and was extremely humid when I was ready to paint the shelves, so I ended up painting in the dining room over a plastic tarp. I used one coat of Kilz primer, and two coats of black semi-gloss paint. Michelle complained of headaches from the fumes, and they were bad: At one point I couldn’t remember my A-B-C’s.
After the paint dried, I used a counter-sink bit to drill the holes for installing the swivel casters. (Man I wish I had drilled these holes before painting!) Once this was complete, I was ready to start putting it all together. I don’t know how many revolutions it required to spin all 56 hex nuts into the correct positions on the all-thread rods, but my fingers sure got a workout. The pattern of nut-washer-shelf-washer-nut became second-nature after a while.
After leveling all the shelves (with a couple of nut-turns: this shelf is flexible, Man!), and tightening everything down, it was time to install the A/V equipment and call this project done. Here’s a comparison of the Sketchup rendering and the real deal, and a comparison of the old wire rack and the newly completed and populated flexy-rack.
Funny that I just noticed that every piece of equipment except the Dish 921 PVR has been updated since the wire-rack photo was taken.
Full photo gallery here. Things I would have done differently:
Full parts list (from Home Depot, Lowes, Ace Hardware):
| Count | Item | Cost |
| 2 | 3/4″ x 24″ x 49″ MDF Panels | $17.78 |
| 4 | 5/8″ by 3 foot All-Thread Rod | $27.76 |
| 4 | 5/8″ by 1 foot All-Thread Rod | $9.12 |
| 4 | 5/8″ Coupling Nut | $11.48 |
| 50 | Hex Nuts | $12.50 |
| 6 | More Hex Nuts | $1.50 |
| 50 | Flat Washers | $13.00 |
| 1 | Quart of Kilz Primer | $5.48 |
| 1 | Quart of Black Semi-gloss | $7.87 |
| 4 | 2″ Swivel Casters | $10.00 |
| 16 | Machine Head Bolts | $2.56 |
| 16 | Nuts | $2.72 |
| 16 | Lock Washers | $2.40 |
| Tax | $9.74 | |
| Total | $133.91 |
Last night, the neighborhood got together for the first ever Skinner Road Outdoor Movie Night. My across-the-street neighbors had been helping their boys build an elevated fort, so we already had a 10-foot tall platform to hang a screen from. Another neighbor’s dad works in a fabric facility and was able to rig us up a 16-foot wide screen for cheap. We mounted my projector on a raised tractor bucket and set 2 of my old huge “college days” speakers up in front, and another neighbor’s speakers behind us for surround sound (no subwoofer, no center channel). I still hadn’t installed my old Denon A/V receiver downstairs, so it was available for amplification duties. A small DVD player completed the setup.
We had a real good turnout, though some might not have thought too highly of our movie choices: Dumb & Dumber, and The Waterboy. Unfortunately, I didn’t think of getting photos of the setup until after it was already dark, and what I did get all turned out terrible. The crowd had a great time, and we agreed that we’ll do it again when the weather cools off.
