Mom's Gone Away!!!

I saw this meme the other day so I had to share it. I swear this is my 4 year old to a T. He could see his shoes right in front of him and still be like "HUH".

This week my wife is out of town for a girls get away with her sisters and mother. That's means I have been left home with our 3 little ones. The good news, it's nearly half over and they are all still alive. The bad news, well the house is pretty much trashed hahaha. Of course what do I do? Write a blog post instead of get to cleaning :-)

I just realized it's been months since I last wrote and I have completely failed on my New Years resolution to write on this thing once a week. Let's be honest, that's not the only resolution that has flown out the window. The whole gym thing, yeah it was fun while it lasted. Now I pretty much only go to the gym so I can use the free child care and get an hour to watch TV, LOL.


At any rate, I am hoping to come back here more regularly and post the things I am interested in, along with the occasion fun stuff with the kids and family. I have started tweeting a little bit more and I finished a wood bench. I just need to get around to putting the video together to share as well. All in time I guess.

DIY OutDoor Shower... On the Cheap!!!

I can't believe summer has basically come and gone. It was a blast traveling around to see some extended family. Now we are back into the full swing of school. Yet, for us around here in southern California, it's a great time to hit the beach. So I finally decided we needed to do something about all the sand that seems to follow us home. I would really have liked to build a proper outdoor shower but since we are renting this place I decided to build something that I don't mind throwing out later. I guess I could take it apart since it is basically three pallets but time will tell. The other main criteria was that this shower, or glorified foot wash, had to be as cheap as possibly. Naturally this meant finding some pallets that I could re-purpose. As you can see from the pictures I found 4 pallets and used a bunch of left over scrap wood I had sitting around from the DIY Cornhole boards project and other projects. So here is what I used:
- 4 wood pallets I picked up from a local nursery.
- lots of screws and nails
- a 20 foot hose
- Garden sprayer with adjustable nozzle and lock
- A screw-in hook to store the hose
- A quick disconnect valve to hook up the hose to the wash basin in my garage

That's right, I decided to just hoot right up to the wash basin in my garage rather than deal with a whole bunch of plumbing to get hot and cold water outside. We are typically wrangling the kids together to wash them off so it's easy enough to have one spraying them off and the other adjusting the temperature. I engineered a sprayer holder assembly out of left over 2x4's in case we actually wanted to go hands free and wash the sand out of our hair. Yes, sometimes we do body surf and end up getting washed out on the shore with tons of sand, hahahaha.  Anyways, have a look at the photos and then read on for how I assembled the whole thing.

I took one of the pallets apart and ripped down the slates to fill in the spaces on the floor of the shower. That bottom pallet is unchanged other than I did sand it down a little and put a thin coat of lacquer, only because I had just a little left over. I think this shower is basically a little of everything :-)

The long front piece with the hose and sprayer attached to it is a pallet that I'm not really sure what it was built for, but I liked how long it was so I added some lumber to it to make it a bit stronger. I tied in another pallet to also had strength and provide a little back wall so the kids would be contained. I added the little half wall mainly for decoration but also thought the kids could use it as a handle. We do have a bucket we put the kids in to shower them off and to help reclaim the water so we can put it in the flower bed or elsewhere in the yard. Everything is basically nailed or screwed together and it's pretty sturdy considering what it's made from. If I was going to build a true outdoor shower, and I hope to in our new house, I have plans on making it bigger, with proper intake and discharge plumbing to reclaim the water. It will also be a walk in shower because I still plain to use pallets, but I want it to have privacy and be big enough to hang towels without them getting soaked. It will probably be a few months, or years, before I actually get to that project but when I do it will be awesome. Thanks for stopping by to read about this cheap (Less than $30) shower and if you have any questions leave a comment or hit me up on Twitter.

Amazon Prime Day, came and went....

I thought I would post really quickly about he major haul we got from Amazon Prime day....Except we didn't LOL. I read online some posts about how this day is really not that great. But Amazon said it was one of their best days ever so I guess somebody bought something. I did actually purchase a new book. Saving Capitalism by Robert Reich. This is part of my summer reading, which I know isn't all that fun but it speaks the PhD part of me :-)


I did also purchase something for myself that is meant to be fun... A wet suit changing matte from Cor Surf, which I am hoping motivates me to get to the beach more this summer. However, I did actually go last week and the water was warm enough that I didn't need my wet suit. Oh well, thing should be useful come this fall when it cools off or next spring. My thoughts on the whole Prime day... It's not really a huge savings and is basically like any good marketing scheme. At least I got free shipping right?!?

Amazon Prime Day is coming....Are you ready?

Make Money Driving with Uber!!! Well...Maybe!?!

New data leaked to Buzzfeed shows what Uber drivers actually make and the numbers don't look so good. The data is for 3 major markets including Denver, Detroit, and Houston, and the numbers how that drivers in those markets earn about $13 an hour. Some of you may think, hey that's pretty good money, and I would tend to agree with you especially since you are essentially your own boss making your own hours. However, the issue with the Sharing Economy model and specifically Uber is the that drivers are independent contractors and do not receive some of the same benefits as a general employee. Things like labor protections such as unemployment insurance, worker's compensation for injuries, overtime, and as Robert Reich points out in his post on Facebook, Uber pays nothing into Social Security for these drivers so they cannot collect it when they retire.

So why are so many people signing up for Uber and using this service? One word...Convenience!

I have used Uber in several different markets during my travels, which is so much easier than trying to get a taxi or take the super shuttle from the airport. Paying with my phone/account is way better when I've used up all my cash that I would need for a taxi. More importantly, I also drive for Uber and have done so for all most a year. In all my Uber experience and conversations with riders, convenience is by far the most common reason people cite for using this platform. I think as a driver, and the other drivers I have talked to, the most common reasons for driving for Uber is flexibility. I am not driving to support my family or myself, I actually drive because I enjoy driving and I like to have a little money on the side for fun. 

So what is like being an Uber driver?

My experience has been pretty positive so far. I have been luck in that I have only had one rider that actually made a mess in my car. They were a little bit, should I say, tipsy and this rider was chewing tobacco. He spilled most of tobacco all over the front seat of my car and after I dropped him off I had to clean it up. I didn't know at the time that I could take a photo with my phone and submit it to Uber to charge the rider a cleaning fee. Otherwise, most riders have been extremely pleasant. You get some that like to chat and some that would rather just text their friends.

How often do I drive?

Well, like I said, I am not really trying to support a family or anything so I drive minimally. I average about 6 trips every 30 days. I put it this way because as a driver we have to complete at least one trip every 30 days or we are kicked off the platform. I could certainly drive more if I wanted to and I could certainly make more money by driving later on Friday and Saturday nights, but I have heard many stories about drunk people leaving things behind...Usually the stinky smelly gooey kinds of things. The one time I had to clean my car was a Friday night drive around midnight.

The money question...How much do you make?

This is a tricky question because I haven't yet broken down all my costs and deducted them from my profits to get a truly accurate measure, but I figure I make enough to cover my gas for the trips as well as the rest of my travels for the month. I think I could probably make more money if I drove more, perhaps as much as $20 an hour. However, the thing you should consider if you want to sign up and drive is the type of car you have, the gas mileage, and whether you want to put extra miles on your vehicle. There are certain restrictions when driving for Uber, but if you are interested in driving you can find out more and sign up here.


Overall, I enjoy using Uber as a driver and as a rider. If you want $20 worth of rider credits you can also use my referral link here. Uber continues to thrive because it fulfills a niche and demand that many people want despite some of the short comings of this model of the Sharing Economy, which I can rant on about in another post. But at the end of the day I think Uber and other platforms like it will continue to grow. So what do you think? Let me know in the comments.

DIY Cornhole Boards

Every DAD blog has to have a DIY post about CornHole boards right?!? I set out a couple weeks ago to build my own set after some minor research on Pinterest. Hopefully you will read this entire post and learn from my mistakes. A set of good boards and some bags could cost nearly $150, so I thought I could make mine for less, and I was right...Until I made a few mistakes.

First, I went to the source, The American Cornhole Association website to get the rules and specifications I needed to be legit. You can go there yourself but the basic requirements are two boards that are 12 inches at the top and 2 and half inches at the bottom with a 90 degree angle. The boards should be 48 inches long and 24 inches wide with a 6 inch diameter hole cut at the top. This hole is centered 9 inches from the top and 12 inches from the sides.  You can see my work in progress below.

SUPPLIES: Essentially you will need Four 2x4's that measure 96 inches in length. Because they are fairly cheap, you may as well pick up one extra in case your measurements are off, uh like mine were... I ended up having to re-cut the legs because I made them too small.  You will also need a sheet of Half inch ply wood. A word of caution. The Home Depot's saw was broken for like two weeks when I wanted to start this project so I ended up getting the pre-cut sheets, two of them, that fit the dimensions perfectly. It was a bit more expensive so to offset the cost I selected some OSB board, which is essentially a bunch of wood chips pressed and glued together. I would not select this material because when I started sanding some of the wood chipped out and gave a rough edge. I patched it up with some wood putty but that just added to my expenses. Also get some lag bolts (4), washers, and wing nuts to secure the legs to the boards.

 The first thing I did was build the frame using the 2x4s. If you know anything about 2x4's it is that they are not actually 2 inches by 4 inches. Be sure to adjust your cuts for that. The long pieces I cut to 48 inches or the length of the top sheet. The short cross pieces were 21 inches and I added the middle piece for support and to take away any kind of bounce the boards might have. It adds a little weight when transporting the boards so you could probably leave them out and be okay. Once I had the frames all nailed together with glue I realized that I should have probably used decking screws, but I had nails and wanted to keep my costs down.  The screws would hold together better in my opinion. Next, I glued the top of the OSB sheet to the frame and secured it with some wood screws spaced about 6-7 inches apart. Once that was finished I found an old paint can that was about 6 inches in diameter and traced it onto the OSB sheet. I used a reciprocating saw or sawzall to cut the hole. Be sure to use a large drill bit to drill a pilot hole and definitely be careful not to cut yourself. The safer way to cut the hole would be to use a jigsaw or better yet the safest way is to get a 6 inch hole saw, but I made due with the tools I had.


Once I had the top sheet on it was time to cut the legs and drill some holes.  I found a tip on one of the blogs that suggested clamping a scrap piece of 2x4 to the top of the board and one behind the leg. The top piece helps with spacing to ensure the legs can rotate backwards enough to be stable. The piece behind the legs just helps with blow out when you drill the hole. Use the right size hole depending on the size of bolt. In my case, it was 3/8 inch. You could also use the next size up to make the hole just slightly bigger to ensure the bolt slides through easily, or just use your drill bit to augh (or is it awg) out the hole. 

NEXT, I found a mason jar lid to use as a template to draw a half circle on the legs. I used my chop saw to take away the most material I could and then follow up with my sander. I would test fit the legs as I went to make sure there was enough clearance for the legs to rotate.  ANOTHER note here is that I also sanded inside the boards where the legs would be placed to try to make sure there was enough clearance. This took a couple hours and don't worry about over sanding here because if you paint the legs and the board like I did, you will find that the clearance disappears and wishing you would have spent more time sanding.

The top of the board in game play needs to be 12 inches off the ground. The first legs I cut were too short, meaning I had the needed height but when I titled the legs back and cut an angle with my miter saw, the became too short. The second pair of legs I cut I made 14 inches, which gave me enough room to put a miter cut on the bottom of the legs so that they are more stable when set up for game play. Sorry I don't have any photos of how I made that cut, but essentially I set the boards up on a table with the legs hanging off. I measured the top of the board down to the table until I got to the 12 inch mark. I then drew a line from the table to the legs to give me my angle and cut with the miter saw. I tested the legs before painting on the garage floor. The good thing about using wing nuts and having the angle cut into the bottom of the legs is that when you set up a game in the grass or on some uneven ground, you can adjust the legs accordingly and tighten the wing nuts.

One thing I experimented with was dipping the legs as opposed to painting the with a paint brush. I have seen this technique used on some DIY vlogs on YouTube and thought I would give it a try. As you can see above, the process does create a bit of a mess, but once the bottom half dried I reversed and dipped the top to have a nice clean finish. Another top tip for you here on paint! I didn't really look until after I already bought some expensive outdoor paint, but I found the oops paint and better yet the clearance paint at my local Home Depot. The paint I purchased was over $30 and the clearance paint was $10. Because I didn't really care too much about the paint job, I wish I could have taken the paint back and bought the cheaper stuff.


ONCE everything was painted I decided to add some handles using some marine rope I bought at the hardware store. I drilled the holes using a 1/2 inch drill bit because the rope was 3/4 inch in diameter and the bigger hole meant I could slide the rope through much easier. I secured it on the inside using some carpet staples and a metal strap I found at the hardware store with some wood screws. I found this handle to be functional but when transporting the boards over longer distances I often just grab the board without the handle. But at least the handles look cool.

On a final note. I found the bags pictured at Walmart on clearance. Actually the main reason for kicking off this project. Although they have an official logo, the bags split on the first day of play and I took them back for a refund. I ended up purchasing some bags off amazon (Link below) that are made of Duck cloth and have the real corn inside. These bags are much more durable and should hold up, plus they come with a 1 year warranty. Perhaps the theme of this post should be "You get what you pay for," because in the end I think everything ended up costing me as much as a set of decent boards would cost on Amazon.  YES, I could have kept my costs down if I was more aware but time became short in supply and well, I wanted to play cornhole so I finished up the boards and got the bags just in time for Fathers Day and ended up having some great games in the backyard with the Bar-B-Que. So let me know what you think and if you have any ideas. Thanks----- Dr. Jim!

Sick of Redbox? Try VidAngel and skip the line by streaming movie goodness over the interwebs

It's been a long time since I have updated this space and I have been struggling with the first post to share with anyone who might stumble across this blog. Nevertheless, I have to get something up or I will never achieve this new goal of regularly writing on this blog.

So my first post is a bit of a review about the streaming movie service VidAngel.com, which if you haven't seen or heard about this company you should definitely check them out. I first came across them on Facebook and thought it was some kind of gimmick, but after spending a long day at the beach with my kids, my wife and I were just too tired to drive to a Redbox to get a movie, so we figured we would try it out. Well, we haven't been back to Redbox since... How's it work? Well, you can always check out their FAQ online but you basically need a credit card to sign up for an account. You can then purchase a movie to stream right to your TV. Purchase? I know right...This might seem a little complicated but it really isn't. You purchase the movie for $20 so that you legally own it and can edit out any junk like profanity or nudity that you don't want to see. The filters they have are pretty good and simple to use. Then once you are finished watching the movie, you just sell it back to VidAngel for $19 and that $19 stays in your account so you can purchase and watch another movie. Don't worry, if you would rather cash out you can always have the money returned to your card. They also have convenient Auto Sell Back features so you can sell back the movie right after you are done viewing it. And that's pretty much it. If you have more questions you can always head over to their website or watch this video: My wife and I have really been the main VidAngel movie watchers in our household, but we did rent the newest Star Wars movie the other day to watch with our six year old and it was great. The convenience factor is through the roof since we don't have to go out to Redbox, wrestle all the kids in the car, or wait in line. Trust me, you will love it too. So head on over there and feel free to use my referral code by clicking on the link below.

https://www.vidangel.com?vip=9qtt11to

Let me know if you have any questions. Jim