Blog

Thirsted Tee Shirt

Did you just drop into Tilted Towers with a squad of noobs? Did you get eliminated before your buddies could get the res off? Do you want to say something about that? Then I designed this shirt for you! Wear it with pride, knowing you did better than 8 other players in the lobby! Check […]

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Un-Plugged Drain

My wife told me to look at the sink in the bathroom. The kids had gotten something plugged in it and it wouldn’t drain. Here’s what I found: Apparently, the sink was plugged with the lid from this bottle, which they left right next to the sink to help me solve the problem. If the […]

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A Father’s Guide to Filtering Out the Big Bad Internet

As a father, I want to protect my children and myself from the bad side of the Internet, pornography, malicious software, identity theft, and the like. But, with more than 634 million websites out there and growing, how can I filter them all?

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Paracord Belt Weaving Tip

So I’ve been on a survival bracelet kick lately. What’s a survival bracelet, you ask? It’s essentially a huge length of 550 paracord that is braided into a cool looking bracelet for quick access when you’re in the need for something to tie. I’ve made a few different ones. The cobra weave, the king cobra […]

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New Stuff is Sketchy

Google SketchUp is awesome! I’ve been using Google SketchUp version 7 Pro, and it’s just plain awesome! I use it for architectural rendering, fabrication and engineering planning, landscaping, hobbies, and even to build virtual studio sets for use in green screen video production. While I use the Pro version, the Free version is quite powerful. […]

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Shop Rules

I’ve been working on these shop rules for a while now. In fact, I posted them on my wall back in 2006, but haven’t done anything to share them. The headlines are part of a speech by Megan Perkins Parker, currently account supervisor at Edelman, given at Communication Day at BYU Idaho on September 28, […]

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Be Different

Don’t just stand out, stand tall, stand above and shine brighter than your competition. We hear this kind of statement all the time, “Stand out from the crowd. Stand out, be different, be creative.” It can be heard from social circles to entertainment, even in marketing. Though, it is beneficial to be different, and memorable, […]

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Why Design?

We’ve all heard the interview process of a small child: Why this? Why that? Why? Why? Why? But, what does asking “why” have to do with design? Simple: everything. Now that I have your attention, I’ll give the not-so-simple-yet-still-fairly-simple answer. I recently watched a talk on ted.com from Simon Sinek. The premise of his message […]

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What can I do for $50?

You know what you can do with $50–cover hosting costs, upgrade some hardware, get a much needed peripheral. Figuring out how to spend $50 is easy. In fact, you probably made more than $50 on your last project. The next client to come to you for the $50 project will barely cover your high speed […]

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Doing New Stuff

So you’re starting a design career, and you’d like to know what to specialize in. Stop right there! That’s got to be the quickest way to guarantee your own defeat. I don’t know how many times I’ve been working with someone just starting out, and they say, “I only do book jackets,” or “don’t ask […]

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Education = Advertising

“Education is advertising a specific viewpoint to a specific target audience to influence a desired outcome. Advertising is educating a specific target audience about a specific product or service to influence a desired outcome.” I’ve said this many times when asked why, after years of work in advertising design, I would choose a Masters of […]

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Economic Survival: DIY Laundry Soap

Last time I talked about the recession and household goods, I realize it may have sounded like I was complaining without offering any sort of solution. This issue finds me in a different situation. I’ve found something else to complain about, while at the same time, I’ll offer up a solution. The topic of today’s […]

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Surplus Windshield

I’ve been making some progress on getting the build officially started. Though, it has been mostly behind the scenes type work. After getting the plans, build manuals, and build license from Rocky Mountain Coachworks, I acquired some materials from Pacific Steel & Recycling in Idaho Falls to put together the windshield from the TremorMUV plans. […]

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It’s Official!

I’ve finally made up my mind what I’ll be building. Duh! You might say. I’m building a Hummer replica. Well, yes, but for the longest time I hadn’t figured out if I was going to go it alone with no plans to speak of. That’s the part I’ve figured out! i’ve decided to use a […]

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Economic Survival: Toilet Paper

I posted this a year and a half ago on the immediate effects of this recession on our household budget—on a blog I’ve discontinued. Some of the details have changed. For one, we don’t buy this brand anymore. Two, we still haven’t found the best buy in toilet tissue. Three, I believe I was ahead […]

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Project Hummer

Make something fun! Check it out. In my spare time, I’m building a Hummer. Well, not an AM General H1 Hummer, but a replica. I got the idea last year when I was looking around the internet and found two other people who had done it. Here: Built on a F150 Chassis, and here: http://www.tremormuv.com. […]

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Hood Design or Hummer Meets Tumbler

With fall in full force and winter coming soon, my attention is turning again to “Things I can actually do in the shop.” I might be able to get some steel in this fall/winter and get started on a table first, then some jigs, and maybe even the cage. While I’m working on those funds—and […]

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Lull in the Project

Retooling, rethinking, but mostly replanning. As I consider the upcoming work that needs to be done, I have encountered a couple dilemmas. Here’s dilemma #1: I have 6 large people in my family… even my youngest are tall for their age. So I am hesitant to put them in a rumble seat between the other […]

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Boyz in the Hood II

I started out today with a workspace problem. My shop was a mess. It took me nearly an hour to clean up assorted lawn tools, spilled potting soil, hanging baskets, etc. before I could even set up anything to build the hood on. Once it was clean—for the most part—I put an old door on […]

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Boyz in the Hood

Well, as we all know, Idaho doesn’t exactly get very warm. We lost all of our snow two days before spring, but it snowed again two days after the Vernal Equinox. So I’m not ready to pull the chassis out into the elements. Also, I started scraping off the junk/gunk/funk/nastiness, but its slow going and […]

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Nothing Says I Love You like…

My sweetheart was Ok with me taking her out twice in the previous week. We danced, we dined, we left the kids at home. So when I said, “Honey, do you mind if I want to spend some time in the shop today? I know it’s Valentine’s Day.” She was totally fine with it. Nothing […]

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Feb 05, 2009: Some Clean-up

I found this on the back of the frame. I removed it, I might use it on my Hummer The rest of the truck is still pretty dirty.

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Jan 22, 2009: Last Body Mounts

I got the last two body mounts off, removed the steering column, brake master cylinder, etc. Then, once I removed the parking brake cable, I got the firewall off.

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Christmas ’08

I made some really good progress on Christmas. Thanks to my wife and I deciding it would be better to let the kids open their presents the night before. She ended up feeling sick on Christmas, the kids were playing… I got to play too.

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Dec 16, 2008: Big delay I know, but it was needed

The delay was caused by life. Things happen, but I finally got myself a good reciprocating saw to cut the body with. If you look closely, you can see the line cut across the roof: Action shot: cutting the pillars liftoff: Here’s when we tore the roof off! Now we can roll with the top […]

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Day 16: No Doors

The kids were happy to see the doors off. “It looks like a Hummer now!” they said. He hopes I get it done before he’s old enough to drive. So do I! “I want a pink one!”

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Day 4: We got the nose off

Here’s a shot with the hood missing. One thing to mention in retrospect, we had only sockets and wrenches and a Black and Decker Drill for most of the body removal. Here’s the mess that the Turbo Hydromatic left behind. It’s sitting in the shop at this point. See… Glass removed from the tailgate. We […]

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The Missing Parts

Here’s the reason the truck only cost me $50. As you can see there’s no engine in her, and the tranny (well, you can’t see) is sitting just above us in the bed of the Suburban.

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Watch me build a Hummer

It started as a 1984 Chevy Suburban…It will end as a Hummer replica.

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