In April Brandi and I took a trip to Dublin, Ireland. Then I took a train up to Belfast, Northern Ireland (actually part of the United Kingdom) for an Automattic team meetup.
Dublin
Belfast
Dublin & Belfast
A Wall and a Home Gym
It’s been a busy few weeks packing and moving to the new house. Actually, it’s been a busy year! Building a 40 foot wall before being fully unpacked is a great idea, right? My dad was up for it, so of course I was. I’d never build a wall before, so framing was a fun challenge. This new project meant buying a couple of new tools, which I always love.
We’re very excited about this new gym area inside the house. No more garage gym for us, which was brutal in the Michigan summers and winters. There is still some organizing to do as we figure out how we use space. The wall isn’t actually finished yet either.
After I finish paneling this area I can get started on the other side of the wall. I picked up 1/2″ OSB for the shop’s wall material, to make it easy to screw small items in anywhere I want. You can’t beat $16 a sheet. Check out this cool storage space for sheet goods I gained by having the wall follow the floor joist.
I’m excited to get this mess of a shop organized, especially with all of my wood and large clamps at the other side of the basement for temporary storage. It’s going to be awesome.
Mtn Dew: Infinite Swirl
DEW with a blast of artificial pineapple berry flavor
There have been several new flavors recently! With my first sip or two I thought it was just ok, which was a bit of a letdown because pineapple and berry sounds like a winning combination. Then as I got in to the bottle, I really enjoyed this flavor. I’ll rate it a 7/10.
Mtn Dew: Star Spangled Splash
Dew with a blast of red berry flavor with other natural flavors
This is a really good flavor and almost tastes like more of a juice than a pop. I’d grab this in the store if I was in the mood for something different than the original flavor, so I’m giving it a 9/10.
Mtn Dew: Freedom Fusion
Dew with a blast of lemonade and peach flavor with other natural flavors
This one was really good and thankfully the peach was subtle enough to add to the taste. I love me some lemonade, so I’m happy to rate it an 8/10.
Saginaw Spirit – 2024 Memorial Cup Champions
Saginaw hosted the 2024 Memorial Cup and we were lucky to have tickets for the Championship game on Sunday night.
The Memorial Cup is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), a consortium of three major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tournament played among the champions of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) and Western Hockey League (WHL), and a host team, which alternates on an annual basis between the three member leagues.
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The Memorial Cup is sometimes referred to as one of the hardest championships to win in hockey, factoring in the number of teams across the CHL’s member leagues nationwide, the Memorial Cup tournament being played between their top teams, and the limited eligibility period for players to compete at the major junior level.
The Spirit held a 3-0 lead at one point and the London Knights tied it up in the third period. Then Saginaw scored the 4-3 game winner with 21 seconds left in the game. It was amazing!
The Spirit came to Saginaw in 2002 and this is the city’s first Memorial Cup. The CHL web site has a great game highlights video.
More Coasters
After making coasters to go with my desk, I had the idea to make some as gifts for my Automattic team members, since we had a meetup coming up. Brandi also wanted to make a couple for a gift, so she helped a lot. Unfortunately I didn’t take many pictures during the process.
Mountain Dew: Citrus Blast
Not many places in Europe sell Mountain Dew and when you find some, it’s usually without sugar. After a week in Ireland I finally found some good stuff.
This is called Citrus Blast and tastes close to the Mountain Dew sold in the US, but not as sweet. I ran the numbers and found it contains less than half as much sugar!
I’m going to give it a 8.5, especially since it’s kind of outrageous how much sugar a 20oz in the states has.
Universal Box Joint Jig by KM Tools
I’ve been wanting to try box joints for years and had saved several plans to build a jig. A couple of months ago I saw Katz Moses Tools was releasing a box joint jig and I jumped on it because their video made it look so good. It was still a pre-order at the time and the web site said it could take 3-4 weeks, but mine was delivered in a week. Assembling the jig was a piece of cake.
I was very impressed by how snug the runner fit in my table saw’s miter slot. After a few pushes back and forth it wore in and then I added paste wax to make it slide like butta! I grab some scraps and my dado stack for a quick test.
The jig is easy to use and with some quick adjustments I’ll be able to dial in a better fit. My next project will be a monitor riser for my desk so I’m looking forward to doing some walnut box joints.
Eclipse Selfie Through the Glasses
The iPhone really did not like me putting the dark glasses over the selfie lens, but it worked. Taken in Saginaw, MI at 3:14pm.
Nick Momrik 