The_Palantiri's Xanga

Exit 59

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:49:57 GMT

I visited Sheehan this weekend in Muncie before going to Indianapolis to take my MacBook to the Apple Store for repairs (won't get that back for 7 to 10 days). The fireworks and hanging out on the fourth was awesome, and likewise Saturday was great; fulfilling my need to see Super Mario Bros. 3 beaten for the first time. Sunday was an alright day too, though fairly lackluster in comparison to the previous two days. After one or two hours of sleep interrupted by a loud fan and fridge (and probably the occasional pop of fireworks that never seemed to totally cease), Sheehan and I ventured to Gas City to attend Exit 59 church.

Something I heard there struck me. But first, I guess it's time for me to be open. I've been faltering as a Christian lately. Not necessarily in the sinful sense, but just that I've lost touch. I've strayed. Prayer is few and far between. Until Sunday, I hadn't even touched a Bible in months. Even though I was struggling, the thought of God, Christians, and faith never was far from my mind. I was always thinking (and still am). Turning ideas over in my mind endlessly until a conclusion might be reached. Without Scripture to back myself up, I had myself cornered into believing that the average Christian was wrong. That most of their beliefs were distorted and twisted trying to justify themselves and the disasters that we hear of. And it's not that they're always wrong; there's the possibility of them being right. The thing that bothers me is that they truly believe that they know.

The thing that struck me was that the Sunday school table was reading Hosea and talking about fires and being consumed by flames and what fuels those flames. When talking about sin fueling fires, one of the older men at the table seated left of me said or implied that the wildfires that frequently plague California are due to the sins of Californians. I wouldn't be surprised if this man went on to imply that Hurricane Katrina was sent by God to wipe out the sinners of Mardi Gras filled New Orleans. And if something were to happen to Las Vegas, I would bet that he'd sit back with a smug look on his face thinking that they got what they deserved. He even had the audacity to praise God for a pastor getting cancer because it spurned so much prayer and outreach from the congregation. Of course that second part is great, but don't you think it's a little sad that it takes something as horrible as cancer to wake us up and become active? When will the body of Christ not need such a dramatic catalyst before it jumps into action for something? Why can't we keep the momentum going even after the cancer or whatever goes away? In times of plenty, we feel no need to join together for something. It's only when we are faced with an immediate threat that action is taken.

It's frustrating. Especially when you're trying to decipher what's real and what's dogma.

Troy

Auction

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:16:11 GMT

Auction time draws near. Friday starting at 10 a.m. is the first day, and much of the household, lawn and garden, and tools will be sold that day plus the property. Saturday at 10 a.m. is the final day of the auction and it will include the antiques, old cars, old engines, and old tools. As I type this, I'm lying in bed recovering from the second hard day of work. One more ahead, but fortunately not until Thursday. Until I get a video properly put together, no words could compare the massive amount of stuff that will be sold in this auction, and it all came from my great-grandpa's! For now, pictures will have to suffice.

This is a wagon of tools. I took this kind of early in the day yesterday, so it's even more full now.

A final count of 35 outboard motors. The big question here would be "why?" but honestly, I don't know. One of them was made for my great-great grandpa, but other than that, I don't know.

I thought this motor was cool. It's a Water Witch.

This is my grandpa's six-horse power International Harvester antique engine. It looks like a hit and miss, but it's not. He's including it in the sale.

This is my grandpa's Star car. That's the brand. He's selling this in the auction too.

Engine of the Star.

From left to right, this is my grandpa's Star, my grandpa's six horse International engine, and my great-grandpa's third Model T. As you can see, it's very rough.

A closer picture of the third Model T.

The 1916 Model T from previous posts, and my great-grandpa's home-made oil pull tractor.

A closer shot of the Oil Pull. We got it running, so expect to see video of that if/when I ever get that up here.

Until Thursday or later, that's it for auction stuff.

Troy

More Model T's and Vlog #6

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 11:38:19 GMT

Yesterday, my mom, sister, and I went back to my great-grandpa's for a final round of helping out before the auctioneer takes over. We got very little done given that they've already done quite a bit, but we got the 1916 Model T out and fired it up again so my mom and sister could get a ride too.

My great-grandpa's Model T and I.

I don't remember making that gesture, but I must have been saying something to Alison about spark plugs or something.

Showing Alison the engine.

The engine. I think it's like 20 horsepower or something.

Demonstrating to Alison how to start the Model T. It wouldn't start like this because the coils weren't turned on, and even if they were, we haven't been able to get it going any way other than pulling it behind a truck to get things moving faster than we can by cranking.

Of course, the obligatory in-driver's-seat picture. Gotta have it.

This was taken as we rode past my parked car in the Model T. I thought it was a cool reflection.

Finally, we have the video, but I can't get it to go from the selection menu down into the weblog entry. This is pretty disappointing. Well, since most of you are subscribed to me, the video probably shows up in your Universal Inbox. Go there or go directly to my videos and you'll see it. You can leave comments about the pictures here, and comments about the video under the video itself. Maybe I'll get this resolved.

Troy

Chasing Balloons

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:37:56 GMT

Three days ago, Peter called me and said that he wanted to have some friends over to play Risk. Naturally, I thought this was awesome and made plans to go. The game's outcome is not important (it was pretty much tied between me and one other person, but I felt trapped and after I lost my North American bonus, I conceded defeat) but at the game, Brian Kunze mentioned that he was to help crew a hot air balloon the next day and asked if anyone else would like to help. I told him that if I wasn't doing anything, I would go.

So the next day at 6 p.m., I headed over to his house where I caught a ride with his family over to the Fulton County Airport in Rochester. There, we met with a flight instructor that was helping Brian's dad learn to fly balloons. Little did I know that "crewing a balloon" didn't actually mean flying in a balloon and helping guide it or whatever. Even though I felt a little deceived and was pretty disappointed, I didn't let it get to me and still managed to have a good time and learn about ballooning at the same time.

To inflate the balloon, we had to have two people standing at the mouth of the balloon while a gas engine-powered fan blew air into it.

The crown of the balloon needed to be attached to ropes which allowed the top to be opened and closed as desired to either contain or release air.

The balloon just after the fan was started and before the burner was turned on.

My job was to hold onto the "crown rope" (seen in the above pictures) and keep pressure on it so that the balloon wouldn't shift to the side or rise prematurely. Once the burner was turned on, the air in the balloon generated a lot of lift and I had to throw a lot of weight onto the end of the rope to keep the wind from carrying it away or letting the top go up too soon.

Once it reached a certain point of inflation, I had to release the rope and then hurry over to the basket to throw my weight onto that to keep the wind from taking it or making it rise too early (catching a pattern yet?). Before liftoff, the wind got kind of choppy and it was a lot of work to keep the balloon on the ground. Then all at once, the burner was activated and we released the balloon.

It rose pretty fast, and the wind carried it 12 miles north to 2 miles into Marshall County.

Finally, 55 minutes after liftoff and after several practice landings, they successfully landed the balloon in a hay field owned by a family of Mennonites (for the uninformed, Mennonites are similar to Amish, but slightly more open to technology). We had to drive the van back into their field to retrieve the balloon, and the whole family ran behind the van as we went and ended up being very helpful once we left. We talked to them while we put away the balloon, and they were very nice and interesting people.

We parted ways and went home.

Troy

Old Fords

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:52:50 GMT

Learning and being busy. That's how you could describe my last few weeks. Honestly, I can't believe I hadn't already posted some of this stuff.

My great-grandpa's auction is at the end of the month on June 27th and the 28th, and as always, we've been busy working to get all of that stuff ready. A couple weekends ago, Ball Auction brought a crew of guys over and we pulled the Ford Model T's out of the garage. Things are getting a little more organized, but there's still a long way to go before we're done. Fortunately, the week after this one, Ball will have an even larger crew to help with the garage, and many family members will help as well. I plan on being there every day for the next two weeks.

Our latest project there is to get the two Model T's running. One day we washed the cars and cleaned the side curtains (for when it rains). Another day, we cleaned the interiors. Then began the work on the engines. So far we've had to pull the spark plugs and use a bench grinder/wire brush to clean them, then clean the timers, clean coils (things that power the spark plugs. Old tech; I'm not very familiar with them), replace a radiator hose, and then hook up a battery to help us get running. Normally you would be able to hand crank them to start them, but since they've been sitting for a long time, they need to run to get things operating properly. Before I go on, here are some pictures of the Model T's.

This is the 1916 Ford Model T Touring car. It's unique in two ways: it has a brass radiator and is the last model year to have that due to World War I, and it also has three doors.

As you can see here, it looks just like any other four-door model, but the driver's door is actually not a door. Apparently it was customary for the driver to exit the car on the right side, probably so they don't get run over by an entire world of brand new automobile drivers. This picture makes it look like I'm just hanging back to take pictures while I let an old man push the car, but there was actually another person on the other side pushing, and those cars really aren't very heavy.

My great-grandpa put a lot of time and effort into this car. Even my great-grandma did. She shined that brass radiator until you could see yourself in the reflection. The wheel spokes were painted black, but they both took broken pieces of glass and used them to painstakingly scrape the paint from each and every spoke. The wood has a nice aged look to it now. In the back you can see the "bug"/racer.

This car is made up of a 1917 engine, 1920-something radiator, and the rear portion of the body is made of a 1940-something Hudson (car company from way back) hood.

The interior of the "bug." This car is unusual due to the fact that it has a transmission. Normal Model T's have 3 pedals, from right to left: reverse, brake, clutch/speed shifter. On the steering wheel (as you can sort of see), there are levers on both sides. The left side controls the spark advance (engine timing) and the left controls the throttle. Needless to say, these are a trick to drive. The "clutch" pedal itself is kind of unique. When pressed half way, you're in low gear and it will cruise at slow speeds with your foot on the pedal. When you press it all the way down, it locks into high gear and from there you control the throttle to determine speed. It's pretty much like cruise control. The bad thing about this particular car though is that my great-grandpa's one mistake was using a short man as a way to design the size of the interior. I sat in it and when my feet were on the pedals, I had a knee sticking out over the metal edge and another knee on the dash. Definitely not built for me.

This car has nothing to do with the auction and it wasn't my great-grandpa's; it was my cousin's, but I'm showing it because it's a Model T race car (designed from a 1925 or '26) and it's pretty high on my list of favorite cars. I wish he wouldn't have sold it...

Anyway, we got the "bug" to run on Friday, and now we just need to put water in the radiator and maybe take it for a short drive. That would be pretty cool! I'd love to drive it, but I don't think my body size makes that safe, so I'll have to wait until we get the 1916 running. We have the three essentials to make it run (spark, gas, and compression) but it's being very stubborn. My grandpa, uncle, and I have been trying to figure out this problem since Thursday and none of us have any great ideas except to put more gas in the tank, double check that it's getting to the carburetor, and possibly pull it with a truck as we try to start it in an attempt to get the pistons going faster than we can with the hand-crank.

Work resumes tomorrow on that car, so if anything happens, I'll be sure to keep you updated.

Troy

Confession

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:34:24 GMT

I have a confession to make that I'm not proud of. I miss Indianapolis.

Now before you go all "Ha! I knew it! CITY FTW!" on me, hear me out. I only miss some things about it. Here are some things I don't miss.

Driving 7 miles to get downtown.
Traffic.
Pollution.
Noise.
Light.
Crime.
Homeless people. (although, to be fair, here in Plymouth we do have the man widely known as "Dog man." Not disclosing his name.)
Having no yard.
Nowhere to hike.
Lack of close friends.
Not enough good places to eat that aren't expensive (aka what the truck stop here used to be)
Curvy, busy, roads with stupid intersections.
Driving 11 miles to visit a friend's campus within the same city.

I guess that's about all the major stuff. City life in general is just annoying I think, but I do miss a couple things. I miss the feeling of being able to walk downtown and have a complete feeling of anonymity. Nobody knew me there. With the exception of the time Sheehan and I went to Circle Centre Mall and ran into Heather Aikins and the time the girl's basketball team went down for the state championship, I never saw anyone down there that I knew from Plymouth. I also miss having a nice selection of stores within a 5 to 7 mile radius. Within that same distance here in Plymouth we have Wal-Mart, K-Mart, JC Penney, Lowe's, Tractor Supply, and a few other stores. But that's it! There were countless places to shop in Indianapolis, even if I didn't ever really take advantage of it that much.

So that's why I miss Indianapolis... a little. Clearly the bad outweighs the good, at least in my mind, but I will never claim that the city is without benefits.

Troy

Greening Up In Small Ways

Fri, 16 May 2008 00:25:52 GMT

As I mentioned in my previous post about "green" technology and eco-friendly transportation, we need to take steps in order to lessen our footprint on the environment. In that post, I threw out some ideas that almost everyone agreed to as common sense ways to become less wasteful. A lot of people though took to the other side of the argument and said that it would be too extreme for them to move their thermostat more than 2 degrees depending on the season.

A woman from Arizona argued to me that people in hotter climates need their air conditioners more. I agree. However, she meant that they needed their homes cooled to lower temperatures than would be necessary here in the North. Personally, I don't see the logic in that statement. Two years ago, I worked a summer job in which I was outside much of the time painting the building or scraping the old paint off and prepping the surface for the fresh coat. I don't know what some of your conceptions are about summers here in northern Indiana, but trust me, they do get hot. Not only hot, but humid as well. If it was hot outside, the inside of the shop I worked at was never much better either. It wasn't rare for me to see the thermostat in the 80's when I'd come in at 8 in the morning, and then end up in the 90's or 100's by 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Because of my body getting used to the hotter temperatures day in and day out, coming home to a house chilled to 80-85 degrees was pretty much heaven. And if that coolness wasn't enough for me, there was always the basement that stayed in the 70's (60's in the winter) no matter what. So if you live in a hot climate and your body gets used to being hot, why would it be that much of a bother to have your thermostat set at 80 instead of 70?

I've decided to put my money where my mouth is so to say. Gas prices are getting out of hand, and I hate it when every time I get in my car the gas gauge dips a little lower. So yesterday, I finally washed the dust and spiderwebs off my bike and adjusted the seat and handlebars so it fits me again. I actually even got the chance to make the decision to use it instead of my car as an actual means of transportation. It was a short trip though. A friend from the other side of the subdivision called me and asked me to come over to work on his 2028 presidential campaign (Ringenberg '28!) and just as I was reaching for my keys, I remembered my bike. So yeah, completely green transportation is a good thing. I got my exercise and didn't use any fossil fuels and put out zero emissions.

Some other things I've been in the habit of doing recently are turning off the TV as soon as I leave the room and only using the one lamp in our living room with a CFL bulb. I've also been outside more, which means if I remember to turn everything off inside, I'm not using any electricity at all. Not only that, I've been getting a lot of exercise that I missed dearly in Indianapolis from all the archery target practice, shooting hoops, and biking I've been doing.

Being "green" in the sense that I'm doing what's good for the environment is sadly not my main motivator. It's a nice addition to my motives though. No, as one would guess of a greedy American, my main motivator is saving money. If it was cheaper to not conserve, I would probably do that unless it was wildly disastrous for the environment. When conserving energy by utilizing some simple, easy to do tricks means saving money, I'm in. I rode my bike because I didn't want to pay for gas. I save electricity so that my mom will have more money. In the long run, you can save money and help the environment.

Troy

Vlog #5: Plymouth and Archery

Sun, 04 May 2008 20:33:14 GMT

Home again in Plymouth. The weapon hike really is on my agenda. Hopefully I will get to do that with Duby within the next week, and maybe even again with Sheehan whenever he gets back to town. He has a better video camera, so that could be really cool.

Also on my to do list is the "The Green Revolution" rebuttal post. It may be on the list, but it's not high in my priorities. I have been away from the Internet a lot, so if the trend continues, I probably won't feel the need to write it.

Troy

Vlog #4

Thu, 01 May 2008 00:12:10 GMT

Recommended photography blog: Kim (onegirlarmy5)
Other photography blog that I really should have mentioned: soNOTcool

By the way, I do not drink energy drinks. It's only there because I was afraid I might have to resort to it when I pulled an all-nighter to write my final paper for history.

Actually there are now 19 new subscribers. Thanks again to everyone who subscribed, commented, or ranted! It was entertaining, and hopefully people got something out of it.

The Green Revolution

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:34:09 GMT

"I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense . . ." -Thomas Paine

Paine wrote Common Sense in 1776 as a pamphlet to stir the hearts of Americans to the cause of revolution. He was actually born in England and moved to America later in his life.

Today is a new age. We are now faced with the problems of overpopulation, pollution, and the enigmatic threat of global warming. The solution is the same as it always has been when it comes to overthrowing the mainstream mindset in favor of a more practical way of doing things or thinking: revolution. This will be known as the Green Revolution, in which we decide the fate of our own planet by either passive igornance or active prevention.

Like Paine, I too was born on the wrong side of the issue. When gas was routinely right around $1.00 a gallon, my family drove with no thought of miles per gallon, pollution, or anything. My dad drove a Ford pickup and my mom drove an Explorer, both of which I'm sure were gas hogs by today's standards. No one really cared back then. It was the early 90's and people just didn't have to worry about it. Gas was plentiful and prices were stable.

Also like Paine, I've tried to turn from my ways. However, for me it's not the same as moving from one place to another and preaching about change; I have to live it each day. I've always been conscientious of waste. Ironically given what I just said of my parents, it was probably my mom that influenced me the most to not waste. Here in Indiana, the summers do get hot. My mom would almost always wait until either the humidity in the house was unbearable or the inside temperature rose above 85 before she would close windows and turn on the air conditioner.

I was watching the David Letterman Show a couple nights ago, and the actress who played Elaine on Seinfeld was on talking about being green. She had some really good ideas, but I think she was giving Americans options that are too easy in hopes of not scaring them away.

I'm not worried about scaring you away, I feel strongly about this and I want you to realize what effects you have on the environment.

She talked about turning your thermostat down two degrees in the winter and up two degrees in the summer in hopes of conserving energy. Two degrees?? Are you telling me that you're only willing to give two degrees off your comfort level to not only help save the environment but also save money? What she said actually took a moment to sink in for me when she said it. You see, I grew up in a house where the internal temperature completely depended on the season. There was no such thing as a set temperature. It would vary day to day, season to season. When the furnace was on, it would never get above 70 degrees. When the A/C was on, it would never drop below 80 degrees. Of course it was hot sometimes! Of course it was hard to sleep sometimes! But we saved hundreds of dollars on our electric bill by not being completely comfortable. Step outside your comfort zones and encourage others to do the same.

Another issue isn't really one that we can directly effect, and that is one of public transportation. I live in Indianapolis right now, one of the most car-dependent places I've ever been (another that comes to mind is Detroit for obvious reasons). Indiana is a state which has definite centers of interest scattered throughout the countryside: Fort Wayne, South Bend, Evansville, Muncie, Terra Haute, Indianapolis. People like to travel between these spots, and many people travel between several of them quite frequently. Wouldn't this all be easier if we had a train route? I mean seriously, Indiana was one of the first states to work on good transportation. It began with canals in the 19th century (though a couple of those were never actually finished; i.e. Broadripple canal). It continued with trains, where we originally got our state's motto: "Crossroads of America." It's in our heritage to be on the forefront of good transportation.

Imagine, if you had 20 people on a bus going from South Bend to Indianapolis, you would be saving 20 cars-worth of gas. 140 miles, 20 people, one bus. Let's say the bus gets 20 mpg and each person's car would have averaged 25 mpg. Each person would end up using 5.6 gallons of gas, and for all 20 people, that means that 112 gallons of gas would be used to transport them to Indianapolis. By all of them using the bus, only 6 gallons of gas is used. Imagine the possibilities if instead of a bus, it was a train, which gets even better mileage! Write to your Senators, Representatives, Governors, and even Federal officials if you are adamant about this.

It's an issue of personal freedom, and ultimately it comes down to whether Americans would really choose to be green and leave behind what they're comfortable with in a real effort to do what's right.

A few of you seemed to be more knowledgeable than I about the windows down vs. A/C argument. It makes perfect sense that, given the insane amount of emphasis carmakers put on aerodynamics that windows down would be illogical. In fact it is, but only at speeds above 50 miles per hour (keep in mind that these figures are also variable on the vehicle being driven). Below that, which I believe constitutes the typical daily driving situation of almost all Americans, windows down makes more sense. So those of you who get in your car to drive to work across town and turn on the A/C, shame on you. Unless it's ridiculously hot, roll the windows down and take the heat. You'll save money and gas.

In conclusion, I urge you all to go out there and research on your own for more ways to become "green" and help our environment. All of these things I've mentioned would also help ease our dependence on foreign energy, a critical issue affecting the price of gas. Work toward it. It will take some time to adjust, but don't give up. Don't be passive, it's too late for that. It's time for action.

Troy