Stan’s Obligatory Blog

This year, I’ve been seeing a lot of public-service ads about how the bottle deposit has gone up to 5¢. This is because recycling rates in California have stayed low. And this is largely because they have made it monumentally difficult to get the deposit back.

They passed the bottle-deposit law back in 1987. At first it was 2¢, and almost nobody bothered to recycle. This was largely because there was no place to go to get the deposit back. So they raised it to 2½¢, and still, nobody recycled. At that time, they had a few machines outside grocery stores that would take bottles and cans. For every two, the machine would spit out a nickel. But it was slow, and the machines broke down a lot.

So now it’s up to 5¢, and I decided to try and see if it might actually be possible to get the deposit back now. So I looked up where I could go. There is a recycling center at a grocery store close to my office, so I went up there at lunch with 20 plastic bottles. The place is outside the store, on the edge of the parking lot. There was an attendent and a couple of homeless people there. It’s only open from 8:30 to 4:30. It smells bad. And then they wonder why only the homeless recycle bottles. Sheesh.

They have a machine that you can feed the bottles into. It scans them and counts them, and it’s pretty fast. So I fed it my 20 bottles. The instructions said to push the button when I was done. And it spit out a voucher for $1. That I had to take inside the store.

So I went inside the store and went to the customer service counter. They said I had to wait in a regular register line. So, after waiting in line, I finally got my damn dollar.

Was it worth it? I dunno. Given that it was a nice day and I just wanted to get out of the office anyway, maybe. And I rode my bike there, so it’s not like it cost me any gas money. But no matter how you slice it, it was a huge pain in the ass.

Back in 1984, I bought a pinball machine. It was a 1979 Bally Future Spa game, and I used to play it a lot when it was in an arcade in downtown Huntington Beach. For many years, it was the weird centerpiece to my bachelor living room, as well as a piggy bank. I never removed the coin mechanism, so I fed it quarters every night. And I managed to save lots of money that way.

Several years ago, I lent it out to a friend from work. He and his wife liked pinball, and they had two young boys, too. So the machine got some good use. But over time, it broke down and gathered dust. So last weekend, they brought it back to me. And I got out the schematics and started fixing it. Over the years, I’ve fixed this machine many times. It’s where I learned about electronics.

When I first tried it, it was stone dead. Some poking with a multimeter found that the main power supply fuse was burned out. So today I stopped off at Radio Shack and got a new one. Then the machine powered on. But the backboard lights were off, and the flippers didn’t work.

Part of the legacy of the time the machine spent by the beach is that a lot of the connectors are corroded from the salt air. This has been a problem for as long as I’ve had it. So I’ve managed to compensate by just wiring things together with alligator clips to bypass the worst of the corroded connectors. And after positioning three alligator clip jumpers, I was able to get the game to self-test and boot up. Then I played a couple of games.

Next, I replaced all the rubber pieces. My friend had bought a nearly-complete rubber kit for it a while back, so I put all those on today. I also noticed that the battery on the main board had come loose, which is why the game couldn’t remember the high score. So I soldered that back on with a little bit of wire.

The last details to take care of are some new rubber pieces for the four little posts, and a new target to replace the broken one. I ordered all these tonight. So pretty soon, I can introduce Lucinda to pinball. Don’t know if she’ll like it or not, but I think I’ll have some fun with it.

Today when I was reading my mail, I saw the Caltech calendar for the week, and it said that today was the ME72 engineering contest. This is the course where students are issued a ‘box of junk’ and have to use it to build a machine to compete in a contest. It’s sort of a ‘final exam’, but even though there’s a winner and a bunch of losers, it’s really more about the experience.

This is the first time in many years that I’ve made it out to watch. Sadly, most years I only find out about it after it’s over. So it was a treat to get to go see the contest again.

Today’s contest was to take a short length of chain and carry it somehow up a plastic mesh slope. The machines competed two at a time, and many of them included features to actively interfere with the other machine. So this made for great entertainment.

Many of the machines had wheels with little sprockets on them to engage the mesh and let them climb the mesh. But the mesh was pivoted at the top, like a carnival ladder climb. So a machine that climbed high on the mesh could fall off, and several did.

Another strategy was a small grappling hook. One machine had a hook that it fired up the mesh and then used a string to hoist the chain up to the hook. At the same time, it had a net that it launched sideways to cover its opponent. Unfortunately, launching the hook proved problematic. When it worked, it worked very well. But if it missed, then it was all over for that machine. In the end, they made it to the semi-finals, but the hook misfired, so they didn’t make the finals.

The final round was between two climbing machines. Both were two-part devices, with one piece to climb with the chain, and a second piece that could move around and try to interfere with the opponent’s machine. So this made for an exciting final round. The two climbers went up the mesh, but the smaller one got the jump and was higher. For a time it looked like it might fall off, but the hooks on the wheels managed to hold on to the end, and the designers got the trophy.

This was great nerd fun.

Route map

Today’s bike ride was Gene’s “San Dimas South” route. This is a ride through the east San Gabriel Valley, and over just a little bit of the hills by Bonelli Park. It was a perfect day for riding. Warm and sunny.

We headed east from Victory Park, out to Arcadia. When we turned right on Holly St, I suddenly started channeling Bing Crosby, singing:

“Oh by gosh by golly
It’s time to take a right on Holly”

This was kind of silly.

Continuing on, we went east into Duarte and Azusa, and then headed south a bit into Covina. Then we got into the hills in San Dimas. We rode up Via Verde and down the other side into West Covina. This time we did the ‘extra credit’ section of the ride, which involved riding up some small streets with big houses on big hills. One of the houses even had a goat pen outside, which was kind of odd.

At the end of the ‘extra credit’ we regrouped at Grand Ave. Then we noticed that Jon was missing. I went back to look for him so I could take a picture if he’d gotten a flat. But it turned out he had just taken a wrong turn. So with the group reassembled, we headed for home.

In West Covina, we stopped at Panera for a snack. There was a long line there the last time we were there, but this time it was empty. That was kind of weird, but we got quick service this time, so it was all right.

From West Covina, we headed back through Baldwin Park and El Monte. Along the way, I saw one abandoned couch, but I wasn’t quick enough with the camera to get a picture. I also saw the liquor store with a big bottle-shaped sign. That was pretty funny.

We went through Arcadia and past the back side of the L.A. County Arboretum. There are always peacocks roaming around the houses there, but I didn’t get any pictures of them this time.

Finally, we rode back into Pasadena and back to the park. It was a very pleasant ride.

50 miles.
cycling

Route map

Today’s bike ride was down to Whittier and over Turnbull Canyon. This is a nice little piece of wilderness in the middle of the city. It was a bit chilly in the morning, so I left a few minutes early to warm up a bit and make sure I was dressed properly. I rode up to Lake and Woodbury and back. Along the way, I found a pair of abandoned couches for the Abandoned Couches Blog. And I also saw an Edison substation that I’d never noticed before. It was in a building that was made to resemble the houses around it. The only real clue was the little sign saying “Edison Substation” and the very thick bundle of wires going into it.

I rode down to Victory Park to meet the group. We rode east from the park, into Arcadia, and then south, passing through El Monte and Industry to get to Whittier. Then we went left on Beverly and rode up to Turnbull Canyon.

The climb up from the west side is perhaps a bit steeper than on the east side, and we’ve done it both ways in the past. Today, we all just rode up to the top. The group broke up on the way up, but we regrouped at the top. Then we headed down the other side. As always, I got the ’steel rollercoaster’ feeling on the down side. It was kind of fun.

At the bottom, we turned left and started for home. That was when I heard a phone ringing, and I was relieved that it wasn’t mine. Instead, it was another guy who had the pleasure of trying to ride and talk on the phone at the same time.

A bit farther along, we realized that we were missing a person. They had been with us when we started down Turnbull Canyon, but they were gone when we got to the bottom. So Gene and Philippe went back to find her. It turned out that one of her cleats had come loose, so they had to stop and try to tighten it before they could come back to rejoin the group.

Coming up Peck Rd, we went through Arcadia and into Monrovia, where we stopped for a snack social at Planet Cookies. And that was also where I saw Stan’s Vac and Sew. I always stop for a photo when I see places that have my name on them.

After the stop, we rode home through Arcadia and back to the park. The ride was a tiny bit longer than the usual Sunday rides, and with the little warmup I did beforehand, I had my Magic 50.

53 miles.
cycling

I saw this on Susie Bright today. It’s the end of the world as we know it. And in this case, that’s a Good Thing.

Pole Dancing Parties Catch On in Book Club Country

And of course, we have to remember that Cathy is also quite good on the pole. Maybe we’ll have to get one for our house…

Today was the final stage of the Tour of California. We had gone last year and enjoyed it, so I took Lucinda down to Long Beach to see the race.

We got there just as the main event was starting. We found a nice spot with a concrete barrier to sit on, and we watched the race for a few laps. While we were there, we saw Vikki from my office. We all thought that was funny, since with the crowds there, it’s like seeing someone you know at Woodstock. So she took our picture before going back to her friends.

A little while later, we walked up to closer to the finish line and crossed over to the center divider of the road. That way we were able to see the racers twice on each lap. There was a booth where people could make their own signs to hold up for the racers, and we saw a girl holding a sign that said, “Go Tour of Calaifornia”. And people have the nerve to say the schools here are no good.

The end of the race was very exciting. The pack caught the breakaway at 1/2 lap to go, and then it came down to a pack sprint, which is always entertaining. We didn’t see who won, but that didn’t matter. It was still a fun time.

Tomorrow is the last day of the Tour of California, and I’m going to be taking Lucinda down to Long Beach to see the race. So I went riding today.

The ride was Gene’s “Corner Bakery” ride, which just sort of noodles around the San Gabriel Valley, with a highlight of going up the nice hill between La Cañada and Glendale.

We rode out to Arcadia, and then south to Temple City. Then back west to San Marino. Along the way, I spotted an abandoned couch on Camino Real. So I got a picture for the Abandoned Couches Blog.

After passing through San Marino and South Pasadena, we turned north and rode through the San Rafael Hills. Then we went down Linda Vista and passed the Rose Bowl and continued on into La Cañada.

We started the climbing with a left on Corona Dr. The route sheet warned: steep. And it was. The guys with the fancy bike computers said it was about 14%. It was a steep couple of blocks, but I made it up in my 39×17, which I continue to insist is a fine hill-climbing gear.

At Inverness we went left, passing by the place where the road washed out two years ago. It looks like the repairs are almost done. Then we continued on up the hill on St. Katherine to the top. We regrouped at the top, and I marveled at the view. The air was very clear. I could see San Gorgonio, San Jacinto, and Saddleback all at the same time. And I even got all three in one picture.

Coming down the other side, we rode around the Rose Bowl and back into Pasadena. We stopped at The Corner Bakery for our rest and social time. Then we rode back to the park and we were done.

It was a pleasant ride, even though it never really did warm up all that much.

40 miles.
cycling

Lucinda is going to be eight next week, and she’s now old enough to understand what it means that we have no cable TV. And she’s been lobbying for it for several months now.

So being the doting parents that we are, we agreed to get it for her. I think we must be remembering things we felt we were denied as children, and we figured that we could spring for it.

We signed up for DirecTV, which seemed to have the best deal for what we wanted. Or at least what Lucinda wanted.

On the other hand, this also means I get to watch “The Simpsons” again. I’ve been missing them ever since KTTV replaced their transmitter several years ago. The old transmitter made a decent signal at our house, but the new one has a more directional beam, and it goes right over our house because we’re too close to the mountain. Since we got the satellite thingy, I figure I should get some enjoyment from it, too.

So let the games begin. Can you hear our IQs dropping?

Today’s bike ride was out to Toluca Lake and back, with a stop at Priscilla’s for orange juice and a bagel. It was a very nice day for riding. We’ve done this ride many times before, so there’s no need to describe the route. But here are the highlights.

In Glendale, we saw an unusual car on the road. So Steve was talking to the driver at a light to find out more about it.

Right next to Priscilla’s I saw a poster for “Rocket Men“, which sounds like it could be fun.

On the L.A. River bike path, there was a Call Box. This was odd. I’ve never seen one anywhere but on a freeway. The bike path runs between the river and the 5 freeway, and right across from the Autrey Museum I saw a couch on the side of the freeway. It looked like it had fallen off a truck and been abandoned there. So of course I had to stop for a photo for the Abandoned Couches Blog.

In Highland Park, I came across another couch on Ave 50. It didn’t have the same sense of drama as the other one, but I collected it just the same.

At the end of the ride, I took a little trip out to Arcadia and back, since it was a very nice day for riding. That was where I saw the pickup with the pinup girls on the back.

As I said, it was a perfect day for riding.

50 miles.
cycling