Far Out Dude - Lego VW T1 Camper Van

passenger side front corner view with pop-up roof

We're blasting back to 1962 and cruising in psychedelic style with my latest LEGO build - a Volkswagen T1 Camper Van. This authentic model is a replica of the classic 1962 VW camper van. Every iconic feature is here! On the outside, the terrific detailing includes 'V' shape three-way color split at the front, rounded roof and window frames, opening 'splittie' safari windshield, opening doors, iconic pop-up roof with textile curtain surround, roof rack, rear side air intake vents and lots more! The detailing is equally impressive on the inside, from the authentic VW air-cooled flat four cylinder boxer engine, front cabin bench seat, gear stick, angled dashboard and iconic spherical speedometer, to custom LEGO® features like folding rear bench seat, folding dinette table, closet with mirror and even a painting!

front view

• Features 11 windows, authentic plaid-print textile curtains and wing mirror!
• Rear door opens to reveal detailed engine!
• Interior also features rear bench seat that transforms into a bed, ‘Make LEGO Models, Not War’ T-shirt and rear shelf with plant!
• Measures 11.8 inches (30cm) long and 5.5 inches (14cm) high!

Fletch helped me build this set. Sorting the 1332 piece set took 2.5 hrs and the build took 7.5 hrs for an overall 10 hrs. Growing up my family had multiple Volkswagens, including two vans (which we affectionately called a "bus") - a 1973 blue and 1975 tan models. So this set was extra special to me. I put it on the shelf alongside my other Lego VW set - a 1960 Beetle. See all the pics of the camper van build here.

on display

drivers side

engine

interior with pop-up camper

Adventures in Bike Commuting

Wild animals seen or crossed my path (sorry no pics):

1. deer
2. rabbit
3. fox
4. wild turkey (really, no joke!) 

Mishaps:

1. Blown tire
2. Tail light fell off in the middle of an intersection and was run over by multiple cars

Weather/Environmental factors:

1. Ride in darkness in the morning. Part of my trip is on undeveloped and unlit residential streets.
2. Rain
3. Strong wind
4. 30 to 40 degree temperature differences between my morning and afternoon commutes.

All this only after five weeks of bike commuting.

Bike Commuting

Since moving to Texas, I've been commuting by bike to work. Partly out of necessity, partly due to the need for exercise. We still only have one car and Austin lacks the robust public transportation that the DC metro area has. Instead of buying a car, I sought alternative ways to get to work. I work for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, aka TCEQ, which is about 12 miles from my house. I found a van pool that picks up at the CapMetro Lakeline station about five miles from my house. No buses run in my neighborhood, so I had to find a way to get to the station. Waking up the family every morning at the crack of dawn to get to me to the station by 7am then pick me up in the afternoon was out of the question. I certainly wasn't going to call a taxi everyday, so my only other option was to ride my bike.

I rode the route a couple of times the weekend before I was to start working. The route is mostly flat and part of the route has a bike lane. My biking Dad's group friends back in DC will be happy to know that I ride my bike as a single speed, not having to change gears on my route. The van pool picks up at 7am, so I leave the house at 6:15am. It takes about 30 minutes. After a week I found a short cut through an elementary school that cut a half mile off the route. Then a couple of days ago I found a residential road closed to traffic because it's still under construction that takes me off the busy, traffic filled main road. Now the route is entirely through residential neighborhoods. The closed road is paved but unlit, and even with a great bike headlight, it's scary riding down a dark, deserted road at 6:30 in the morning. Check out my route in the map below.

View 2/12/2013 6:12am in a larger map

The move cost us a bundle, so I haven't bought a commuter bike yet. I'm riding my mountain bike for the time being. I pack my work clothes, lunch and anything else I need in a backpack. Fortunately TCEQ has a gym with a locker room and showers, which comes in very handy for a bike commuter. I bought a quality headlight and taillight so cars will see me and I can see where I'm going in the wee hours of the morning. As we get settled in Austin and I free up some fundage, I'll buy a commuter bike, trunk bag, panniers, more bike clothes and rain gear. I've already rode in light rain twice.

Austin is a bike friendly town. I see quite a few people bike commuting. I'm happy to be part of that community. Riding 10 miles a day five days a week is hard but fun. It only takes an hour round trip, and even with a 40 minute round trip van ride, my commute in Austin is still shorter than my DC commute. And I get a workout in to boot.

On the Move

Cross-posted on the Shock Family Circus Blog.

We announced our move to Austin early last month. With that came a job search for me and house hunting for the family. I'm happy to announce that we've found both - a new job and a new house. I started my job search at the beginning of December. After three weeks I had four job interviews and received two offers. I actually cancelled one of the interviews as my schedule wouldn't allow for it and I had already received the offers. I'll be working for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality as a web developer. It's the same job I've been doing for the past 13 years, just with a new employer in a different part of the country.

We are renting a four bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, two car garage, 2400+ sq ft single family home on a corner lot on a cul-de-sac in the Round Rock suburb of North Austin. It's an awesome house. It's over a thousand square feet bigger than our condo in Virginia. We need the room as the family had outgrown the condo. The house has a fenced in backyard so the boys have a safe place to run around. There's also an outdoor fireplace and built in grill, so the adults can enjoy the backyard and we can entertain outside all year long. The garage is detached, which totally fascinates me but I don't know why. It'll be nice not having neighbors who share "common area". I'm planning on commuting by bike because public transportation in Austin isn't as robust as it is in DC, I need the exercise, and I want to maintain our single car family status.

In other good news, The Mortgage Debt Relief Act was extended through 2013 as part of the Fiscal Cliff legislation. That means we won't be taxed on the forgiven debt of our short sale. We were hoping to close by the end of 2012 so as to avoid the taxation, since we didn't know if the MDRA was going to get extended. We haven't closed yet due to circumstances out of our control, but with the extension, the pressure is off.

I was hoping to ride all this good fortune into a fantasy football championship, but that didn't happen. I have the highest winning percentage in my league over the last 5 seasons, I've been in the playoffs six straight years but have a 1-11 post season record. In the 12 years I've been playing in the league that I'm commissioner of, my best finish has been third place. :(

I Still Social Network Manually

My religious background is well known to most of you. I posted the story on my blog back in 2009. But if you don't know it, here is the abbreviated version: I was born Jewish, then my parents converted to Mormonism when I was two years old, which is the only religion I knew growing up. I stuck with it until I was not allowed to go on my mission at age 19. I didn't attend any church for a while after that, until I felt compelled to join a Pentecostal church. I felt extremely out of place, but ended up meeting my first wife. We moved to Virginia in 2000, and didn't attend any church after relocating. Then I got divorced in 2005 and remarried to my current wife in 2007. When she got pregnant with our first child in 2009, we decided to go back to church to raise our kids in religion. She was raised Catholic but had a 'been there, done that' mentality about Catholicism so we decide to attend an Episcopal church, The Church of the Good Shepherd in Burke, VA. I didn't really care, as I was disillusioned with religion anyway. We've been attending ever since. At the same time I started my study of Dudeism and I became an ordained Dudeist priest.

I remember my days of going to Mormon services and trying to figure out why people diligently went to church. There were a handful of people who believed in the Mormon dogma and was the reason they attended, but I felt most were there to socialize with like-minded people. There was an air of artificial credence. The kids were there mostly there because their parents made them go, but the social aspect also compelled them to return a couple times a week as many had church friends. I grew to despise the social aspect of church attendance. I felt people should go because they believe in the doctrine and not to hang out with their friends. I felt it was disrespectful to the institution and the leaders, like those socializing were wasting the true believers time and using up the church's resources. I felt it gave the church a bad name.

It took me a long time to get over my negative feelings about the social aspect of religion. The turning point was when I realized why I eagerly go to church now-I want to see my friends! I've made some great friends through the Young Family Ministries group (YFM) at Good Shepherd. If the social aspect of church is what gets a dude like me to go to church, not to mention the primary reason why many go to church, then I say more power to it. It's better for me and my family to embrace the social aspect then to demonize it.

The Dude Abides.

Reverend Shock

S**t is getting healthy up in here, a.k.a. Shock v13

hers and his sick [running] kicks

***UPDATE 7/29/12: I'm officially calling this upgrade a hardware upgrade since I'm working on my exterior a.k.a my body, as well as my interior, e.g. my mind. Previous upgrades have been software updates, completely ignoring my hardware. ***

Turkey burger on a wheat bun. Light butter popcorn. Meditation classes. Couch to 5K (C25K) exercise program. Why am I listing these things? Because up until recently, the author of this blog would never think about partaking of or participating in such things. I scoffed at "healthy lifestyle" changes. But I've turned over a new leaf. Shock version 13 (v13) is born! Some people know I jokingly refer to significant changes, or as I like to call them "upgrades", in my life as new "versions". I don't remember when I started keeping track, but it was 13 iterations ago. What was the catalyst to the v13 upgrade? I weighed myself and didn't like the number. It's as simple as that. I had been planning to take meditation and yoga classes to help me chill out and relax. My wife found a free meditation class at a local yoga studio that happened to coincide with the exercising and diet changes. The best part about my exercising is that Jennifer is doing it with me. It was actually her idea, and I unexpectedly jumped on board. To celebrate our completion of the eight week C25K program, we're planning on running in a local 5K. Jennifer has also embraced the dietary changes. On her last grocery trip, she bought wheat bread and buns. Her text to me was "bought wheat bread. s**t is getting healthy up in here". :)

Happy Raging Against the Machine

In my ongoing series Rage Against the Machine, I explore my love/hate relationship with technology. This installment is in the love category. My wife's Macbook laptop recently died. I've seen how this scenario plays out-and the outcome is usually bad. She took it to the local Mac store for a quick and dirty (and also free) diagnosis. The genius said it needed a new hard drive. We had some Amazon credit and ordered a new HDD for the laptop. Low and behold replacing the hard drive fixed the computer! My wife was back in business. She didn't lose much since our important files are stored on an external hard drive. The OS and applications needed to be re-installed, but that was it. Happy ending.

I'm a Google junkie. I use almost all their cloud apps and I even have some of their Nexus hardware - a Nexus S smartphone. When they released details about their new 7" tablet - the Nexus 7 - I pre-ordered immediately. I actually ordered two. I can't have any gadget without my wife also wanting one. :) Two Nexus 7 tablets cost less than one iPad, so it was a no brainer. It's better than the Kindle Fire in my opinion - Nexus 7 has Bluetooth, Kindle Fire doesn't. It's supposed to ship in mid-July, which is now, but no word yet. The anticipation is killing me.