Santa Cruz Charger

I'm really enjoying the craftmanship in my new board, an 8' 10" Charger by Santa Cruz, shaped by Matt Yerxa and a slick cobra graphic logo. Makes me want to start shaping boards.

Flying Virgin America

Finally took a flight on Virgin America last week. Love the Marc Newsom-designed interior, purple mood lighting, stylish animated safety film, and you can't go wrong with a plane named "Go-Go Dancer" either. Aside from the slow user interface on the seat-mounted entertainment system, it's a pretty nice experience - and $114 to San Diego ain't too shabby.

CamelBak Stainless Steel Bottles

CamelBak's new stainless steel bottle line, with single wall and double wall insulated styles, are now available at REI!

Chinese Knock-Off Cars

So I thought some of the fake CamelBaks and JanSports I've come across were blatant forgeries, then I came across this story. The image above is a fake Rolls Royce that costs $60k, versus $500k. Below is a Mini Cooper copy (Mini Copier?).

 

SawStop!

So we have a Saw Stop table saw over at my shop, and judging by the two spent cartridges I found, someone had to use the safety feature a few times. It basically works by running a charge through the blade, and when it's interrupted by, say, someone's finger, it stops and retracts the blade in a fraction of a second by shoving an aluminum block into the blade. You end up destroying the blade and the aluminum stop cartridge (about $100 each) but it saves a digit!

 

Dreamliner 787

Still waiting to be trapped, er, travel to Asia on this plane, but this is why I can't for now.

CNC Plasma Cutter

Jason, another metal worker at the Joshua Tree Studios, has a CNC controlled plasma cutter, a very cool device he uses to make signage. I'm still thinking of something innovative to create with the thing. Originally used for routing wood, he removed the router attachment and replaced it with the plasma torch, then it's controlled via laptop pc running a program that translated DXF files.

KISS Soap Box Car turned into a Bookshelf...

Take salvaged steel from my Red Bull Soap Box "KISS" car, add black acacia walnut, and voila...

Images from the Snowsports Industry Show - Vegas 1/29/09

My Stab at the Bacon Explosion

After finding out about the Bacon Explosion phenomenon on the internet, I just had to try to make one for a Super Bowl snack.

Weaving the bacon...

Spreading the Italian Sausage...

Layering the crispy bacon...

Rolling the log...

Then broil (or grill) and baste in hickory bbq sauce...

I have to say, pretty delish...