From tomgauld.com

Where’s the Obama I voted for?

You know, the one that supported a public option for healthcare? The one that did not support the taxing of employer-provided health care benefits? The one that stood on stage after stage in town after town and derided his competitor for supporting mandates? And we won’t even start about the Patriot Act provisions you were going to roll back.

This senate bill that you appear to be so happy about, sir, would have been campaign fodder for you if it had come from one of your competitors. You’ll say it’s a step, it’s a start, but neither of these things are good if they are in the wrong direction. Insurance stocks are soaring, they’re thrilled with this legislation, and they should be. They likely helped write it – well, the bits that the pharmaceutical companies didn’t, anyway.

If this bill is so good, explain to me why. If you support it, don’t try to tell me you didn’t campaign against the very things that are in it. The internet has an endless memory. If they’re not already out, the Youtube videos are coming – one shot of you campaigning on the public option, another shot of you saying you didn’t. One shot of you supporting mandates in the Senate bill, another shot of you slamming Clinton for supporting them.

Before you were elected I wrote you a letter and said that when it came time to fight for health care, to fight a good fight, and fight hard. I told you about my wife surviving brain cancer while our finances did not.

I just never thought you’d be fighting for the other side.

I supported you in the belief that “hope” was more than just a four letter word. I’m afraid I’m going to learn that “change” is just a four letter word as well.

Taking Orders!

Taking orders! You too can own a copy of my first published fiction!* At only $5, it's gotta be worth it!

Who knows, someday it could be worth $6! Hit the Paypal link at the bottom of the posted link. If you like it, go back and buy the first edition too!

Her description of my story is perfect: "a pizza delivery guy who has an experience straight out of a pulp-horror magazine". Go buy it!

*Technically, I've been published online, but this is the first time for print fiction

Completely Geeked

Ok, I know, it’s not a big deal. It’s a little chapbook no-pay publication. And yet.

It’s so cool.

Published!

Other than a short piece in the online webzine Aphelion years ago, my fiction writing efforts have languished in the drawer.

I am more than pleased that I’ve finally broken through into print. The start-up chapbook magazine TBR Tallboy has accepted my story “We Deliver” for it’s December issue. W00t!

I think it’s a fun, scary story about a pizza delivery gone horribly wrong, and TBR Tallboy’s YA slant is perfect for it.

You can read more about the magazine here, where you can also order issues. AT only $5.00, it’s worth it!

Contentment

"Daddy,

scratch my back"

she said, sitting

pulling up the back of her shirt.

I did, because

that's what fathers do

when daughters ask.

Eventually,

after a few

"over"s and

"down"s

I hit the spot.

She sighed

the tension drained out

like a wound spring turning to warm wax

she turned her head

and looked at me

and smiled.

I wanted to tell her

that this might be as good as it ever gets

that six was easy but at sixteen

we'd be arguing

over

boys and clothes and homework and piercings and chores and other silly things

But

I decided to just take the smile, for now

until the night she needs it again.

Parts is Parts part 2

I’ve finally gotten around to tearing down the two power chairs that I rescued from the dumpster. The Jazzy chair (pictured in the first two shots) was complete, so we just took off the chair and the cover to get to the chassis and guts that you see here. I tried plugging it in overnight but got no movement from it. The lights under the joystick were happy to blink at me, but other than that there was no activity. The left side motor (pictured here) is fairly covered with rust, and the lever the moves it from “freewheel” to “geared” is very hard to move, but still works. This motor may have issues and I’ll likely tear it down for a closer look

.

The second chair was much less complex (no ‘suspension’ like the Jazzy has) and came apart with a basic nut driver screwdriver and some Allen and Torx bits. The motors, batteries and control circuits all look really good and things don’t appear any worse for the time in the rain.

 

My current thinking is to begin with a joystick controlled lawnmower that I can just follow behind and control while it mows. This will allow me to at least prove the concept. At that point I can work on replacing the joystick with some form of interface to a receiver. I’ve seen at least one other blog where someone has done this, and it appears to lower the complexity of the build quite a bit. The plan is to essentially remove the wheels from the mower and build a frame for the drive assembly, then mount the mower in the frame.

Next steps will be trickle-charging all of the batteries to see if they’ll hold a charge, then motor testing and repair (if needed). After that I’ll decide which set of control circuitry to use and begin building the frame.

Watch this space for updates!