Do//
Birthday’s Galore!
December is a busy month for us, we have double birthdays (Avery and Brynn). We celebrated with each girl having a day with just the two of us.
Each one of them got to pick their activities. Believe it or not (believe it) we ended up at the Mall of America twice. Both of them wanted to go on rides and visit their favorite stores.
Brynn decided on Pizza Ranch for her special lunch, I scored a bonus in the arcade and we made out like bandits. Avery wanted a chocolate volcano at The Rainforest Cafe and we all left in sugar comas (we couldn’t finish).
Matthew Mayfield
Amanda and I went to Matthews show along with some friends, the show was small and intimate as most shows are at 7th Street Entry. One of my favorite shows hands down.
For the last 10 or so years Matthew Mayfield’s music has been a staple on my playlists. His music really taps into raw emotion, the lyrics are captivating on a whole new level. When listening to Matthew’s music you feel the song, you understand the reason the song was written. This is music that gives you a take away a feeling that could only come from someone who is exceedingly passionate about what they do and why they do it.
Check out Matthew Mayfield.
Karting
Before this month if you asked me the last time I was on a kart, I would tell I honestly don’t remember… During the off season the MN Autosport Club has a karting league. I’m planning on making as many days and I can, karting is wonderful practice for AutoX and we all know I need all the practice I can get. While I ran poorly I still had a blast.
Giving Back
This year with all the shuffle and gifting I felt like we needed to give back. The girls and I went shopping but this time it was a special trip, we didn’t get anything for us. They each got to pick out some things they would like so we could give donate them to Toys for Tots. We didn’t go overboard but they enjoyed giving back and dropping of their presents to the local donation box.
Read// (books)
Idaho Falls – The Idaho Falls SL-1 nuclear incident happened years before Chernobyl, and while not nearly as big, this one was happened on US Soil. I knew nothing about this incident until I came across this book. I was curious and decided to pick this up!
I enjoyed the story as a whole, it does provide a lot of history around the SL-1 reactor, the tests being performed, and who was running it. The actual accident is surrounded by a lot of rumor and speculation. Since little evidence exists you wont walk away with a solid clear answer from the incident. If the incident intrigues you, then you likely will enjoy this book, I did.
Read// shorts
Treasure hunting in San Francisco? Yes, count me in.
Listen//
The Kevin Rose Show – AMA #2 – No elaborate recap for this one, I always enjoy listening to Kevin. I am a long time listener of Kevin Rose and I really like hearing about how he faces everyday challenges and betters his life. This AMA covers topics like: career advice, buying crypto, his psilocybin experience, and Japanese whiskey.
S Town Podcast – Amanda’s brother recommended this one to me a few months ago. When I found out that John B was a watchmaker I decided I should listen. I had heard of S Town and how the story was interesting, turbulent, and brought you into the life of John. I really enjoyed this podcast, I wont get too into it as I don’t want to spoil any of it. Check this out, it’s a quick listen.
Watch//
Print The Legend (2014) – If you have no interest in 3d Printing this would be a recommendation to skip this. If you have some interest, put this one on in the background. Print the Legend is a documentary about a few companies racing to market with some of the first consumer 3d printers in the US. The movie has “aged” as the market is very different today as China printers have now flooded the market. I still enjoyed watching this.
Don’t F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer – (2019) – Amanda and I randomly started this one nigh thinking we would stop after a few minutes if it didn’t grab our attention. It grabbed our attention… a few days and 3 Episodes later we finished up. This documentary does a nice job keeping things visually interesting while using voiceover from interviews to tell the story. What kept us going is that the the initial “cat video” is only the beginning of the story. The work this small group of people put into finding this guy is absolutely insane. Things get pretty serious towards the end, stream it!
Make//
IP Camera Base/Riser
Check out the post on the camera riser. This was a quick design I did to give my 3D printer’s camera a solid mounting point.
Racing Sim Seat
This has actually been a much longer project I started in November. While I have experienced some delays and the entire project has been shuffled around the priority list, I’m working on it.
You can expect a separate post dedicated to the sim racing setup I am making. It’s keeping me busy in the already busy month of December.