Winter Entertainment 2009 - 2010
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Autumn - Pumpkin Carving!
You can tell I'm really excited to be playing with power tools, I'm fogging up my face-shield in my anticipation.
My little rotary tool is one I don't get to use very often although I'm fond of it. You can see I'm rigged out in more safety gear than most pumpkin carvers wear, a requirement of the power tools.
A motorcycle racing friend of mine hosts a pumpkin carving party every year, and it's one of my very favorite social events. Gather a bunch of competitive people together, and regardless of the activity you'll have a competition. Several years ago, after giant pumpkins and albino pumpkins, we pressured to Angela change the rules to allow the use of power tools.
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Angela was (understandably, I suppose) a bit reluctant, possibly concerned for her safety, but eventually we prevailed upon her to allow us to carve pumpkins with power, and now I can cover my friends with the spatter of pumpkins flung at high speed. Maybe next year I'll bring some dollar store rain ponchos to pass around.
'Cause believe me, the spatter flies!
Fortunately flying pumpkin spatter is cool and wet, not dangerous or flammable... heck, it's even edible and biodegradable! That can't often be said of the substances that fling off power tools. All my fellow carvers and the photographers emerged safely (the pumpkins, however, were sacrificed; their seeds roasted, their guts composted).
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The puzzle pumpkin, the horror of the missing piece. Perhaps not a kind of horror that can be conveyed with a pumpkin, although I had to try the idea out to know that, and it was great fun to carve.
For next year's pumpkin I think I'll work more with the drill. I'll focus more on design, and less on maximum pumpkin flingage. Splattering my friends is surprisingly enjoyable, I've discovered, and I imagine I'll find it very tempting come next October.
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Pumpkin Carving photos are courtesy of Rob MacLennan - www.morallyambiguous.net
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Winter - Motorcycle Shows!
The morning of the opening day of the Motorcycle SUPERSHOW I woke up feeling like a kid on Christmas morning. I was so excited to have a motorcycle show to go to.
I've been working for the SUPERSHOW, building their website (www.supershowevents.com), for about 10 years now, and I attended the motorcycle show for years before that, but that doesn't seem to have dampened my enthusiasm.
I stopped by the RTI Booth at the show to talk to my fellow riding instructors and found the other two Andreas - there are three of us named Andrea that teach at RTI, although we are seldom all together, which made this a perfect opportunity for a photo. Can you see how much fun we're having?
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You can meet old friends at motorcycle shows and you can meet new friends. This young lady and her father were staffing another rider training booth, and we got to talking about bikes.
I find it very invigorating to talk to kids about motorcycling, their enthusiasm is untainted by preconceived notions that many adult rider training students are burdened with.
The motorcycle SUPERSHOW was great fun this year, and a more wonderful way to spend a winter day I find hard to imagine.
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