October 29, 2009

Mom

Mom

Heart Attack

Heart Attack

BEEF

BEEF

FOOD!@!

My birthday was recently. And as per usual my parents visited. The first picture is my mom cooking her signature meatballs in my kitchen. My mom is awesome.

Next is my dish for the SB book club’s monthly iron chef cook off (special ingredient is cheddar).  I made roasted heart attack (aka jalapenos stuffed with Vermont cheddar and wrapped in bacon).

Finally there is the 10lbs organic slab of top round we got in our beef adventure. We threw big party and feasted. Look at that beauty!

October 13, 2009

Base

Base

Tube

Tube

Electrical Ignition

Electrical Ignition

From the top

From the top

Pictures of the Pyronado 2.0.

I began thinking about the pyronado soon after finishing my desk. That was 3 years ago. Originally I used a PVC tube instead of glass and a plastic computer fan as proof of concept. Well the the PVC released extremely toxic fumes and the fan melted almost immediately, but for some reason I figured the thing would work.

Progress was at a halt until about a year later I randomly found a metal fan on eBay. I also found a large pyrex tube originally used in the 80s to bake round loafs of bread.  About this time I thought to name this contraption the pyronado (pyro + tornado). After that I couldn’t possibly not make it.

Essentially, the pyronado is a flame source (kevlar soaked in denatured alcohol) inside of a glass tube (to contain the vorticity), over a fan. The current version has some of bells and whistles, like an adjustable speed fan, and an electrical ignition system.

The first Pyronado was successfully made about 4 months ago. The difference between it and its successor was the lack of an electrical ignition system. Before I would have to light the pyronado by hand, which was a pain. Now I press a button and 120V from an outlet heat up nichrome wire to glow red hot.

History of the Pyronado:

  • V0.0: PVC tube and plastic computer fan
  • V1.0: Glass tube, metal vent base, and adjustable speed metal fan
  • V2.0: Electrical ignition, L-bracket base

In the future I’d like to add multicolored flames, and possibly, but not likely, a continuous fuel supply. I’m also now wondering if I can still bake bread with it.

October 11, 2009

Oooh baby. That’s a lot of organic grass fed beef! Jordan and I took a trip to Paso Robles to buy meat from PL Bar Ranch. We bought about 70 lbs between us and a few friends, which should hopefully last a few months. Sketchily enough, we met the farmer and his wife at an OSH parking lot to make the exchange. Makes sense. Public place, no good sniping spots. They turned out to be very nice and not secret agents. I had the chewiest NY strip ever last night. Jordan made the classic liver and onions.

We also have a single 10 lbs cut of top round. It’s friggin massive. We’re not exactly sure what we’re gonna do with it, but it will certainly involve many people and be epic.

October 7, 2009

LED bamboo sculpture

LED bamboo sculpture

Flaming Balls

Flaming Balls

Pyronado V1.0

Pyronado V1.0

Fishbon offered fire sculpture classes a few months ago, culminating in a fire exhibition downtown at the International Dairy Cooperative. I showed the pyronado there (a small fire tornado device I’ve been working on). And there were plenty of other awesome toys: a flamethrower; the Primudial (no pics unfortunately); the LED bamboo sculptures that were brought to Coachella and Burning Man, and other random art and fire things.

October 3, 2009
I just removed this from my car! It’s the ABS module and it’s been a naughty module. I had to remove the driver’s side front wheel and liner, then the windshield wiper fluid tank to get to it. What they didn’t tell me was that there’s a valve sticking into the tank, that when removed, causes all the fluid to spill everywhere!! So I had a gallon of windshield wiper fluid geyser all over me and the engine. The irony of it all is that I didn’t even have any wiper fluid in there a few days ago. It had ran out. But when I brought it to the dealership last week they refilled it gratis. I was really happy about that… at the time. Anyway, doing this all myself saved me $650!! There’s a service that repairs broken ABS modules that I’m sending this fella off to.

I just removed this from my car! It’s the ABS module and it’s been a naughty module. I had to remove the driver’s side front wheel and liner, then the windshield wiper fluid tank to get to it. What they didn’t tell me was that there’s a valve sticking into the tank, that when removed, causes all the fluid to spill everywhere!! So I had a gallon of windshield wiper fluid geyser all over me and the engine. The irony of it all is that I didn’t even have any wiper fluid in there a few days ago. It had ran out. But when I brought it to the dealership last week they refilled it gratis. I was really happy about that… at the time.

Anyway, doing this all myself saved me $650!! There’s a service that repairs broken ABS modules that I’m sending this fella off to.

September 28, 2009
Sunshine in a cloud. Best breakfast invention ever. This is a pic of them just before they entered the oven. Click for the recipe.

Sunshine in a cloud. Best breakfast invention ever. This is a pic of them just before they entered the oven. Click for the recipe.

September 26, 2009

This is clearly the cutting edge in D.A.N.C.E. technology. Thank you Kevin for introducing me to tecktonik. I am currently trying to organize a dance troupe to take the Santa Barbara music scene by force.

September 20, 2009
My Day Here is where it all happens. I typically wake up ~9am. Make breakfast (which I take very seriously) and proceed to sit here for about 10 hours a day. Typically I do not put on a shirt, and only sometimes, pants. The luxuries of academia. I built this desk myself when I first came to SB. Instead of trying to socialize, I was at Home Depot. Something I’m not proud of actually. This desk is a “spoil of war” from a life where I thought all the things that mattered could be achieved from within. On the far right is a badass unfinished sculpture, gifted to me by Fishbon, the local “art collective” / burning man group here. If I’m not at my desk I may be spending time at Fishbon on projects. Back to my day. I also live right by the beach. When I’m not sitting here, I like to take a run along the ocean, or bring my poi out there. There is a pretty 5 minute walking trail to the bluffs that take you down to the beach. 2 miles up the shore is a 5-star spa called Bacara. 2 miles down the shore are drunken frat parties. Average those things and you get my street. The strange thing is how deserted the beach is. I may see 5-20 people on the beach during my run. It’s true the beach isn’t the best. There are flies, crap tons of kelp, tar. But it’s still beautiful. Even if you have to scrub your feet with olive oil after. Sometimes you’ll be out there and there will be nobody else. It’s oddly therapeutic. I’ll post pictures sometime. Before going to bed I’ll read a book. Years ago I started having math dreams. That was really bad. So I found that if I read I sleep much better. I just finished a book my roommate recommended called Time Ships! I told him I haven’t read any sci-fi I ever liked and he suggested this one. I gotta say it was actually pretty cool. It acts as a sequel to HG Wells’ The Time Machine. Most of it very well thought out, but lacking development. It was written by a mathematician, so what can I expect. I’m not starting to read a new book called Cloud Atlas. Hopefully it will not suck.

My Day

Here is where it all happens. I typically wake up ~9am. Make breakfast (which I take very seriously) and proceed to sit here for about 10 hours a day. Typically I do not put on a shirt, and only sometimes, pants. The luxuries of academia.

I built this desk myself when I first came to SB. Instead of trying to socialize, I was at Home Depot. Something I’m not proud of actually. This desk is a “spoil of war” from a life where I thought all the things that mattered could be achieved from within.

On the far right is a badass unfinished sculpture, gifted to me by Fishbon, the local “art collective” / burning man group here. If I’m not at my desk I may be spending time at Fishbon on projects.

Back to my day. I also live right by the beach. When I’m not sitting here, I like to take a run along the ocean, or bring my poi out there. There is a pretty 5 minute walking trail to the bluffs that take you down to the beach. 2 miles up the shore is a 5-star spa called Bacara. 2 miles down the shore are drunken frat parties. Average those things and you get my street.

The strange thing is how deserted the beach is. I may see 5-20 people on the beach during my run. It’s true the beach isn’t the best. There are flies, crap tons of kelp, tar. But it’s still beautiful. Even if you have to scrub your feet with olive oil after. Sometimes you’ll be out there and there will be nobody else. It’s oddly therapeutic. I’ll post pictures sometime.

Before going to bed I’ll read a book. Years ago I started having math dreams. That was really bad. So I found that if I read I sleep much better. I just finished a book my roommate recommended called Time Ships! I told him I haven’t read any sci-fi I ever liked and he suggested this one. I gotta say it was actually pretty cool. It acts as a sequel to HG Wells’ The Time Machine. Most of it very well thought out, but lacking development. It was written by a mathematician, so what can I expect. I’m not starting to read a new book called Cloud Atlas. Hopefully it will not suck.

September 9, 2009
Japanese beef rolls to break in my friend’s paleolithic diet. Super easy. Don’t burn the marinade like I did. Click for the recipe.

Japanese beef rolls to break in my friend’s paleolithic diet. Super easy. Don’t burn the marinade like I did. Click for the recipe.