The Lego brick is 50

What a fun surprise to go to my favorite search engine and see the Google logo made of Lego bricks! The mouseover said "50th Anniversary of LEGO brick", so I had to do a little surfing. It's actually 50 years since the patent was filed, so I looked up the LEGO patent.

I was a huge Legomaniac when I was younger. More of a Legomaniac than Zach. I started with just a few bricks when I was around 6, and then for almost every birthday, Christmas, Easter, and any other special occasion I got a new Lego set. My big facination was with the Space sets, and then eventually got interested in the Technic sets. I'd play with them for hours. I think I had 40-50 sets when I sold them to raise some money for my first car. Looking back, it would have been nice to still have them, but I've been windowshopping on Ebay, and one can get used Legos in bulk pretty cheap. In fact, a Technic Lego set (or Technic blocks) is on my wish list for my birthday, which is February 13.

Even better is that you can download building instructions for new sets directly from the Lego website here and there is a website that collects and posts Lego set building instructions after the set is 3 years old here. A quick Google search shows there are likely a few others that have old scanned instructions. Just more reasons for me to love the internet.

Books I've Read

I've added a section regarding the books I've read over the last few months. I'm not a fast reader, as you can see by the length of the list. Our library is finally set up, and I have plenty of books to read now that Dena's and my book collections are together.

An Inconvenient Truth really helped bring some light to the ongoing global warming issue. Being an engineer, I wish there was more data, but the pictures do speak for themselves.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a heavy philisophical journey about a man, his inner craziness, his son, and a motorcycle trip.

Long Way Round I enjoyed a lot! It's Ewan and Charlie on a couple of BMW motorcycles as they ride around the world. What all happens? Lots. I'm eager to read the follow up journey called Long Way Down where they ride from the UK to the tip of South Africa.

Freakonomics was another book I enjoyed. It's Economics, but very interesting. How do big topic items in the world relate to other completely different objects. I highly recommend the book.

The Party's Over is about Peak Oil and what will the world do after the oil is all gone. My personal feeling is that we've hit Peak Oil right now. Another recommended read if you're interested in how energy effects the human race, but it will leave you feeling very depressed for a few days.

If you have any books that you'd recommend, feel free to post in the comments or send me an email.

Back Surgery Update: End of Week 6

This weekend was the end of week 6 after my back surgery, and I didn't need to take any Ibuprofen during the waking hours of both days. There was still a little pain in my back and my right calf, but very mild. I did take some Ibuprofen so I could sleep comfortably. I'm finally starting to see the benefits of the surgery! It's so nice to finally get a taste of normalcy.

It was 55 F today in Aberdeen. The sun was out, so I vaccummed and washed the BMW. I'm slowly getting some additional lights up in the garage so I can work on the Kawasaki. I hit a car with it just before Christmas and need to fix the front nose fairing. The days have been so short here, and thus dark, hench the need for lights in the garage. As of January 26, we now have 8 hours of daylight, curtesy of TimeandDate.com.

I have a bunch of pictures from our trip back to the US that I still need to get posted on my Flickr album. It's on my To-Do List.

Diesel Forcast

Well, it looks like I was just a little behind regarding my idea for a diesel technology news based website, DieselForcaset.com It's OK, now I can enjoy it without all the hard work. :)

Making money from your interests

Over the last couple days I've once again been considering a little online business on the side. Right before I moved to Scotland, I had been the middleman between and Aprilia dealership and Formula SAE teams selling them crate engines. It was pretty sweet as I made $150 for each sale. I ended up selling 8 engines in a matter of about 5 months and all I had to do was post on a forum and then answer some emails. From that, I started to plan a website called FSAEnetwork.com. It's still up, but nothing more than a welcome screen and an empty forum. I realized too late that the market just wasn't there to make decent money for the effort. For 2008, I've committed myself to finally getting into investing. I have a 401K started, but I'm interested in really learning how to invest in stocks, bonds, etc. I've picked up a couple books, and I've even set up a practice portfolio on CNNMoney.com. Starting at January 1st, I've picked some stocks that I think will do well, but so far the market is just shit. One day I was up about $200, but most days it's been negative. I know investing is really about the long term, but it's been fun to watch so far. Probably because I don't have any real money invested yet. I need to finish reading my books so I can figure out which stocks are really a good value instead of just a good guess.
The North American International Auto Show a.k.a. the Detroit Auto Show has been taking place this week. I've been reading hyperlinks on Google News over the last few days. The main theme this year has been 'green', although not surprising considering high gas prices, global warming, and the passage of the new energy bill which will force manufacturers to increase their Corporate Average Fuel Economy. Most of the manufacturers have been announcing hybrids or diesels depending on the vehicle. I personally feel that hybrids are good in small cars in town in stop and go traffic, but diesels make more sense in big vehicles that travel the highways.
With all the manufacturers getting ready to release cars or trucks with diesel engines in them, I've once again been considering starting a website centered around the general topic of diesel engines, which obviously is a larger audience. This would take a pretty good time commitment, so I’m putting some thought into it. I might make a tiny commitment and just start another blog with news feeds from various diesel sources.

The dreaded filing cabinet monster

It was early Saturday morning when I crept upstairs into our office. I was still half asleep when I attacked.....the filing cabinet and it's dreaded paper monster!!! I've been putting off organizing it for about a year and half now. Papers have usually just ended up in piles on the floor. When I need something, I just dig through the pile. There is about 4 inches of old bank statements that I now need to shread. Well, with this being a new year, the pain going down in my back and leg and thus having a little more motivation, I finally spent most of the weekend organizing the filing cabinet. It's the first major step that I've taken this year to balance my life. I must admit that I felt pretty good by the end of the weekend. It's not completely done, but it made me aware of a few more items I need to take care of. One of those being to get my rewards programs updated so I can start taking advantage of the traveling that I do.

Unfortunately, our US vacation is over

Dena and I are in Atlanta waiting to catch our flight back to the UK. This flight is a day late due to yesterday's flight being cancelled. I really don't like flying. Mostly, I don't like the lack of control I have over when and where I go somewhere. There seem to be more and more delays, overbookings, strikes, etc. Direct flights are usually fine, but anything with a connecting flight causes me to keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.

Being back in the US was really nice. I've never taken 5 weeks of vacation at one time before. I apparently needed it though. I feel so much better. It took me the first week and a half to just stop checking work email everyday. Then, I had my surgery, and my pain has been going down. It's so nice to have less pain in my right leg and back.

What's in future for 2008? I'm working on getting balanced again. For some time now, I've been out of balance after getting injured and leaving Louisiana. I need to balance my time with Dena, time with friends, work, hobbies, health, and fitness.