Last soccer match of season

This morning the air temp was 39F and the wind was a stiff 20mph from the WNW, making it feel just below freezing. The soccer field was still awash from the rain of the last week/month, but despite the conditions the girls did great

More pictures available here

One for the grandparents

FIle sync

Tonight I set up automatic file synchronization between my home network attached storage and desktop PCs, I downloaded "Allways Sync" its an Ad funded "freeware app" and it rocks!
I now have an RPO of 6 hours and an RTO of 30 minutes....
Not bad for $340 of hardware and protecting 1TB of pictures video and music!
In reality I could go for a more aggressive RPO but I don't see why I need to. The RTO is dictated by the 1GB Ethernet speed, the RPO by the disruption that the sync software causes. Beinging realistic I can live with an RTO of a week and an RPO of similar duration, afterall I am realy trying to prevent loss of  our families archive of pictures and video.

Happy days!

I was going through old photographs and came across this picture from a vacation a couple of years ago at Vero Beach in FL.. great memories.

I need one....

This Dell Adamo XPS makes the Macbook Air look chuby!

NETGEAR Stora

Last month I lost an external USB drive when it crashed and with it I lost access to 200GB of photos and music, I very helpful friend at work helped recover it and today I invested in a 1TB Raid protected network attached storage device for my home that is also remotely accessible (in case you are wondering I added the optional second SATA drive for the mirroring). I am currently restoring all the original data to my main PC and tonight will back it up to the external storage. Beyond the risk of complete fire loss I feel that I now have a decent data protection strategy for the home for the first time ever.... I am feeling extremely lucky that the data was recoverable, and think the $300 is a great insurance for future protection.

Cuban Guajillo Pork Recipe

Saturday night was Cuban night at the cabin, I cooked Cuban Guajillo Pork, you can find the recipe here, I substituted the chillis for different ones as we could not find the Guajillo specifcially, it tasted great though.

We also had a realy nice cheap white wine with dinner,  Cosecha Tardia, from Argentina, "Made with Chardonnay grapes harvested over rip so as to achieve its natural sweetness. Its soft flavor together with honey touches perceived in its aroma make Cosecha Tardía an ideal wine to be drunk alone, or else, to accompany desserts, blue cheeses and dry fruits." It went realy well with the spicy pork and cost $7.99 hard to beat that.

Cockpit covers and lowering the SUT

Along with accomplishing many other things weekend I made my first two cockpit covers for the Tahe on Saturday. I was unable to find any thin neoprene so instead I used lightweight rip stop nylon, $5 a yard and I can get three covers from a yard. The first (let’s call it a prototype) worked but was not the best. I made them by first cutting out a newspaper template of the outer cockpit rim, I then drew around the template onto the nylon with chalk, I then added two and a half inches outside that and drew a second line which I used as my cutting line. My first attempt I simply folded the edge over to the chalk line and attempted to sew around the edge about half inch in from the fold. It was very difficult to keep the fabric aligned with the inner line; I was not able to neatly pleat it, the slippery fabric finish made it particularly tricky. Once I had circled the cover once I added a second row of stitches this time much easier as the fabric was held in place. I fitted this one with a length of string fed around the edge to see what the fit was like and was pleased with the effect (but not the seams/sewing).

The second attempt was much better, I got some 1/6th inch bungee cord and then folded the nylon over the cord and pinned it very close to the cord, creating a clean tube around the edge, and trapping the pleats in place around the tight curves at the front and rear cockpit corners. I then was able to run the sewing machine foot right up next to the cord and get a smooth line of stitches and consistent pleats around the corners. I revered direction and added a second row, and finished each end of the tube with several extra rows of stitches for strength where the cord exited. I threaded both ends of the cord through a plastic stopper and tied the ends of the cord together. I fitted the cover to the boat and then tightened the cord so it was snug. I towed the boat to the cabin yesterday and the cover stayed firmly in place. I will be fitting a webbing strap and clip to the front soon so that I can clip the cover to a deck line just in case it decides to blow off. When I get the sewing machine out next time I want to try and make a cover that is just a little bit tighter width ways, other than that I think its pretty good - although I need to find a way to finish the edge of the nylon underneath so it doesn’t fray.

This morning I went for a paddle around the lake, I put on my thermals and my dry suit and fleece lined skull cap, all very dramatic, but I stayed warm. The air temperature was 45F and there was a 10-15 mph wind blowing. I am not sure what the water temperature was, chilly is the most accurate I can be (note to self get a thermometer). I wore my standard leather palm Warmer brand gloves – not a good idea, next time I will wear my thin neoprene gloves. After circling the lake I stopped 20 yards off shore and rolled once – successfully. And then went ashore to warm up. I was completely dry even my hair under my hat, I guess my face and neck were wet imeadiately afterwards…. Next time I will wear thin fleece on top of the thermals.

Last night a team at work was performing a lot of maintenance in one of the data centers and there were some unintended consequences which kept me up until just after 2am. I was crabby today (lack of sleep does that to me) and so I was banished to the sofa for a nap this afternoon.

After dinner (fish tacos) I had an inspirational idea about how to modify the SUT and have now lowered the kayaks to about 18 inches off the ground, a much better height than the previous 30 inches. I also replaced a bunch of steel bolts with stainless ones. It’s nice that home depot is still open until 8pm on a Sunday. This photograph also shows clearly the paddle carrying torpedo slung under the rails, I have not yet worked out how to deal with the end cap, either with a lock or a better handle to open it, the thread tends to get very tight – it is meant to be water tight after all.
Looking at this picture makes me think I should replace the rear hydraglides with the same rubber supports as I have at the front, I don't realy need to slide the boats forward I just drop them into place. The hydraglides offer little to no support sideways.