On January 31, the Colorado Full Size Jeep Association met at Club Workshop, a local business that rents out time on really cool machinery. They have CNC machines, welders, an auto lift, exhaust gas analyzer, a laser engraver, embroidery machine, and lots more I'm forgetting.

Club Workshop was kind enough to host the CFSJA for the afternoon as we explored the shop, got a quick welding demo, and all around had a heck of a good time with a fantastic turnout. Here are some pics. More pics: click here.


In case you were wondering, TC has been holding together ok. Something is wrong with the heater and I'm slowly digging into that problem. The choke is a bit too rich with this atypically warm CO winter. The battery has run down a couple times.

Happy and hopeful New Year to you!

I like to set up goals for the year. Even just writing them down and putting them away somehow helps focus my energies for the year. I only achieved a few of my 2008 Goals but I'm happy with that -- it was a rough year and family comes way ahead of goals. Despite the hard stuff there's been a lot of blessings and opportunities. Too many to list, really.

We are expecting a girl, due date May 30! Job's going very well (so thankful to have a job in this economy, let alone one going well). Thankfully the Jeep's been running well (now I jinxed myself). It got through emissions, has been getting good mileage, and I was able to get the stereo and alarm installed. Been driving it around quite a bit and enjoying the heck out of it. Had a great time hunting deer this year. I did get out four wheeling a couple times. I found a great deal on a table saw. I had a chance to do some woodworking, something I've always been interested in and intimidated by. The keepsake box I made for my wife turned out pretty good although I need to learn how to apply finishes better. I put together a real nice stereo system in the office out of used/vintage gear (including turntable and reel to reel deck) and picked up more classical music LPs than I can listen to in a year. Tunes are a real joy. I took an opportunity to volunteer as one of the mentors for a local FIRST robotics team which promises to be very rewarding. There's more but like I said, too many to list everything.

Well, I still have some goals in the back of my mind to get to 'one of these days'. For 2009 there's one goal I want to focus on more than the others by far:

1. Be the best dad I can be.

So, my Garmin eTrex Legend started crapping out while hunting this year. Screen would blank out at random times.

Rather than throwing the unit away, I submitted a query about repairing it with Garmin support. They wrote back to say:

The issue that you are having is directly related to changes that are being made in WAAS satellite signal. Garmin is aware of the issue and has made an update available that will resolve the freezing problem that is being exhibited on your GPS. A quick fix for this issue is to temporarily disable the WAAS reception from your system setup page. This will have a very minimal effect on your GPS accuracy.

Thought I'd let folks know before they give up on their old GPSes. The update was pretty painless for the Garmin, just downloading and installing some update software.

Day 5 - Tuesday
A new day. The last half day before we head home. The morning is cool, but no snow as forecast to drive down the elk. We decide to try a different tactic: hunt some draws up north in the morning for deer. Sunrise is gorgeous, but no animals seen. We walk through the private land area, wondering if that nice 4-point is still in there from last night. I park it on the western edge, Joe on the east. Toby walks through hoping to find something, maybe sending it to Joe or I. Not much time passes and I hear a gunshot. Toby's found that four point... and made an amazing standing shot that puts it down right there. He's been carrying a tactical, target barreled .308 because his regular gun is having issues. To say it is hard to shoot offhand is an understatement. That he was able to take the deer shooting from a standing position is a testament to his marksmanship. We prepare the deer and head home after having some lunch in town.

Epilogue – we just had steaks last night from the buck Toby shot and I must say, wow. I mean wow. Really delicious. Not gamey. Wonderful rich dark flavor to the meat. Surprisingly tender too! I was afraid I'd not like the taste of deer in steak form. Both my wife and I were thrilled. And the critter made some good summer sausage and salami. I want one of those in my freezer next time!

Definitely a lot of work to do before next Fall.