It has been awhile since I have updated my blog and lots of things have been happening. Lets start with my extracurricular activities. I was working on my snow machine since last time I blogged. I pulled the engine out of the machine and sent my cylinders out to Darbys Performance Machine in Fairbanks to be bored out .02 over. I ordered new gaskets, pistons, rings, wristpins and bearings. Once all the parts got back I put them all together and re-installed the engine. Once I get the engine re-installed I had to hook up all the electrical and mechanical connections and I was ready to put a fire in the hole! The machine fired up great and was running good. Unfortunately during a trip, I will tell you about later, I scorched one of my cylinders and need to replace the piston, rings, and re-hone the cylinder and I will be back in business..... hopefully. It was a stupid mistake, I got caught up in the action and payed the price.
The school district sent me to a conference in Anchorage to meet with some teachers from around the state that have "Fab Labs" (fabrication). The reason for me going to this conference was to get ideas as to how I am to set up the first-ever fab lab in the district at my school. Of course money is always a concern but after a lot of research, with approval from district office I was able to purchase two fab lab machines! First, I was able to purchase a 3-D printer, it makes 3-D objects. I know it's hard to imagine but check it out https://store.makerbot.com/replicator2x.html take a look at what it can do. The second piece of equipment is a vinyl cutter! http://www.rolanddga.com/products/cutters/gx24/ With these two pieces of equipment my students will be able to design and fabricate in 2-D and 3-D! As you can imagine the implications for education are endless, hopefully this will help make my classes and learning more meaningful. Oh yea, and to power all of these new technologies I have 12 new powermac desktops with 1Terabyte hard drives and a lot of ram! Needless to say I am being spoiled!
While in Anchorage it was not just work. I was able to attend a few Fur Rondy events that were going on while I was in town. My favorite by far were the snow sculptures! Teams of artists carved hunks of snow into amazing sculptures. My favorite was titled "Moose Hunting" it depicts the moose as the hunter, hunting the human. The detail in this sculpture is amazing, they really did a great job. Voted a crowd favorite was the orca that represents a plane which was very cool as well! There were some other really great sculptures that I will post pictures of.
The demise of my machine happened suddenly. My school was asked to go on a culture trip downriver to Noorvik by snowmachine. We had about 18 hours to set this trip up :/ Along the way we were supposed to drill holes in the ice using an auger then measure the thickness of the ice to see if it was thick enough for the ice road that will be built later. The trip was headed by the culture coordinator for the district. Once the machines were gassed up and a plan was made we headed out. I got about 5 miles downriver and my machine shut down on me. I thought my engine break in was complete but I was obviously mistaken. I eventually limped my machine home. At that first stop the students were trying to drill the first hole but the augers that were brought did not function properly. As I limped home the students and the other two chaperones pushed down to Noorvik to pick up an auger they left there. Upon arriving at Noorvik they realized their auger was "missing" aka stolen. So no holes were drilled, two machines broke down, a pretty dismsal trip.....at least the weather was beautiful!
This place has been pretty amazing so far. The country is like nothing I have ever experienced before. The absolute solitude that you can feel when you are out there alone is a new feeling. At those times it's easy to lose yourself in the beautiful mountains, the vast tundra, the winding rivers, a moose browsing in the willows, a herd of caribou crossing a ridge, a wolves howl echoing off mountains and ridges fading into nothingness. These are the feelings, sights and sounds that stir the soul to reflect. At those times a man may take an introspective look at his life to ascertain what he has done and what he is doing.
Winter is still here and strong. It won't lose it's grip for awhile yet. On the plus side I will have more time to break in my snowmachine. Hopefully i will be able to do it right this time. Thank you for reading and taking an interest in my life! Stay safe and warm,Taikuu! (Thank you)
The school district sent me to a conference in Anchorage to meet with some teachers from around the state that have "Fab Labs" (fabrication). The reason for me going to this conference was to get ideas as to how I am to set up the first-ever fab lab in the district at my school. Of course money is always a concern but after a lot of research, with approval from district office I was able to purchase two fab lab machines! First, I was able to purchase a 3-D printer, it makes 3-D objects. I know it's hard to imagine but check it out https://store.makerbot.com/replicator2x.html take a look at what it can do. The second piece of equipment is a vinyl cutter! http://www.rolanddga.com/products/cutters/gx24/ With these two pieces of equipment my students will be able to design and fabricate in 2-D and 3-D! As you can imagine the implications for education are endless, hopefully this will help make my classes and learning more meaningful. Oh yea, and to power all of these new technologies I have 12 new powermac desktops with 1Terabyte hard drives and a lot of ram! Needless to say I am being spoiled!
While in Anchorage it was not just work. I was able to attend a few Fur Rondy events that were going on while I was in town. My favorite by far were the snow sculptures! Teams of artists carved hunks of snow into amazing sculptures. My favorite was titled "Moose Hunting" it depicts the moose as the hunter, hunting the human. The detail in this sculpture is amazing, they really did a great job. Voted a crowd favorite was the orca that represents a plane which was very cool as well! There were some other really great sculptures that I will post pictures of.
The demise of my machine happened suddenly. My school was asked to go on a culture trip downriver to Noorvik by snowmachine. We had about 18 hours to set this trip up :/ Along the way we were supposed to drill holes in the ice using an auger then measure the thickness of the ice to see if it was thick enough for the ice road that will be built later. The trip was headed by the culture coordinator for the district. Once the machines were gassed up and a plan was made we headed out. I got about 5 miles downriver and my machine shut down on me. I thought my engine break in was complete but I was obviously mistaken. I eventually limped my machine home. At that first stop the students were trying to drill the first hole but the augers that were brought did not function properly. As I limped home the students and the other two chaperones pushed down to Noorvik to pick up an auger they left there. Upon arriving at Noorvik they realized their auger was "missing" aka stolen. So no holes were drilled, two machines broke down, a pretty dismsal trip.....at least the weather was beautiful!
This place has been pretty amazing so far. The country is like nothing I have ever experienced before. The absolute solitude that you can feel when you are out there alone is a new feeling. At those times it's easy to lose yourself in the beautiful mountains, the vast tundra, the winding rivers, a moose browsing in the willows, a herd of caribou crossing a ridge, a wolves howl echoing off mountains and ridges fading into nothingness. These are the feelings, sights and sounds that stir the soul to reflect. At those times a man may take an introspective look at his life to ascertain what he has done and what he is doing.
Winter is still here and strong. It won't lose it's grip for awhile yet. On the plus side I will have more time to break in my snowmachine. Hopefully i will be able to do it right this time. Thank you for reading and taking an interest in my life! Stay safe and warm,Taikuu! (Thank you)
