Main Page - Historical Archive 2006-2013
2014 Adios!With Social Media in fullswing, I've decided it is time to to cease my updates to the Hubner.net main blog page . I've enjoyed posting here for Family and Friends, my monthyl muisings and hope you've enjoyed hearing about us in one place.
This page will be maintained as an historical record of the last 8 years!
Paul
March 2013
February 2013 Lynne and I went to Houston and bought her a Motorcycle! Its a matching R1200GSA (in blue) with a bunch of mile, but its in fantastic share. I got to ride it up through heat, cold, rain and dark of night and it ran great :-) We have a target for our first roadtrip to Arkansas in May.
January 2012
December 2012
November 2012
Jeep. There is truly nothing like it :-) My 1991 Cherokee just turned 300,000. Or 1 trip to the moon and partway back. Yes I said THE MOON. Thats an interesting perspective - thats 10 laps around the Earth is the distance to the moon. It seems father in the abstract. Sara's Legally Blonde performance was great fun - She is a wonderful dancer. singer and actress - even if they put a Senior in the starring role!
Off to prepare for a deep fried turkey!
O
ctober 2012I bought a new motorcycle this month in North Caroline and drove back to TX through the Smokies, across Tennessee, then swerved through the TalaMena trail and south to McKinney. 1300mi or so and great fun. I planning to repaint 'Greta' from pint pearl (dusty rose?) back to Alpine white. Here's a today shot:
September 2012School has started and Both Erik and Sarah are doing well. Erik has taken to his new college life is pledging Chi Phi. Sarah dove into the theatre production of Legally Blonde.
August 2012
UTD Here we come! Erik started college and moved into his brand new dorm on campus. Sarah has successfully progressed in to here Sophomore year.
Did I mention the dog? Lynne and the kids have been wanting a dog for many years, and finally found one they liked enough to buy. "Josh" is a relatively laid-back Pembrook Corgi of 10/5 weeks. we have already started training him. I am the Alpha, and he, Lynne, Erik and Sarah are the Pack ;-)
I built an arduino sprinkler controller as the 15yo Rainbird gave out (well never worked). Ohh its so nice to have a humanly understandable interface to the previously arcane world of putting water on grass.
July 2012
We went to Japan with the family for a few weeks. It was great fun to immerse ourselves in a foreign culture and see the world from a fresh perspective. We began in Osaka, rented a house in historic Kyoto, pet monkeys, overloaded in Tokyo, trekked up Mt Fuji, saw Hiroshima, then returned exhausted. Las Vegas and Hawaii were our frenetic stopovers. Fresh memories for all.
This HFR2K12 may have been the last in Goshen as M&D are planning to downsize to a local apartment. I hope this transition goes smoothly for everyone and is stress free!Mt Fuji !
June 2012
We have a Graduate in the house! Erik matriculated this month from Boyd and is
going to UT Dallas in the Fall. He was accepted into the Engineering program for Computer Engineeing! We built an LED mortarboard together that flashed Red&Blue as he crossed the stage. Goshen even got to watch a little online. We celebrated later at a Brazillian steakhouse - Mmmmm.
Look how handsome he is :-)
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
Erik and I wanted to see what politics were like, so jumped right in and won positions as delegates to the State convention! While there are differences in politics, the convention process is what amazed me. Both good people and zealots alike. We were new and treated mostly as pariahs as we settled in - The local convention was truly an eye-opening (vitriolic!) experience. But there were a few decent, honest people who we gravitated toward and I thank them for their support even if our opinions differed. We'll honor all our commitments and go to State, but that's probably the end of it for us.
That's Erik with the Texas railroad commissioner. No one even blinked when they walked into the convention with a rifle. Go Texas!
February 2012
January 2012
I do love it when Chris comes to visit. Riding his way through to Florida, he stopped over for a week and a few days of riding together through East Texas national forests.
December 2011
Merry Christmas to all.
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
Texas is hot.No really it's HOT. Going for the 100+ degress record - was 108 yesterday. Whew! Luckily, Sarah was able to fly solo to NJ to visit the Waseks who wonderfully whisked her away with them to the Outer Banks for a week on the beach.
June 2011
School's out - SATs and ACTs for Erik, Sarah is lounging and Lynne is going to drive a steamroller! Next on Hubner.net! Well she didnt get to drive, but Lynne had a blast in Houston. As the Featured Artist, the production team took care of her and her print was the Grand Finale.
May 2011 It's going to be a great summer! Sarah is going to visit her cousin Natalie (and Janine and Evan) for a few weeks in NJ and in NC! The rest of the family will come to NY for the family reunion in August and and travel together back to Texas together. Erik got an Internship at Prodea Systems in Plano - He schedule to work through the summer. Way to go!
April 2011
First Flight for the Quadcopter! Really smooth and responsive - the DIYDrones.com team is fantastic! Video in HD. Still working on stereo imaging...
March 2011
Erik was in a fun one act play last night. He had a great stage presence and banter. Lynne won two second place awards in the Craig-Heard Juried Art Show! And so why have I been sick this last month? E-Coli! What right?! I know! So hooray antibiotics! First Flight! My DIY quadcopter has flown successfully! I had to resolder one of 4 power controllers to fix an intermittent problem - not something you want on a thrust-based vehicle! I sent a FlipCam to Goshen for Dad to record some family history - I look forward to hearing how "it" really happened.
February 2011
Uncle Pete is converting a ton of videos he found from the '80s- we cant wait to see them. The "Tea-dipper" is a classic - The kids are insisting I regain my childhood speech patterns. Erik even said "I'd hang out with that kid". Nice. Grandpa located and had his 1943 record sent to me to me for encoding. Gpa was 17 when he recorded it same as Erik now! - I hope to have converted it by March :-) . Sarah made the "A" Honor Role. as you can see, she was sooo happy to have her Dad photograph her (heh heh) Erik was rehired part time at PacSun (so I retract my earlier "Boo")
January 2011
HNYMMXI ! I hope everyone year is wonderful and productive. Boo to PacSun - they didn't do as well as they hoped and let Erik go, despite his doing a great job as salesman and making himself know tot the top brass.
December 2010
This was our first Christmas in the new house - a relaxing day, but we continue to miss everyone back east! Erik gifted the family an HD DVD player for the media/play room - that's my son! Lynne picked up a great iMac for the family too! Sarah ran into our neighbor Kevin McHale at the Apple Store and got a fun pic. She and friend had caroled his neighborhood last year too.
C
hris and I got together in New Mexico for a motorcycle camping trip - beautiful views in the Gila National Forest, surreal landscape at White Sands, and freezing temps overnight. Chris got caught in a snowstorm on the return trip - in Arizona! My bike broke down in Odessa TX on my birthday (!) and was uhauled back to McKinney. On the plus side, I'm learning how the drive system works!
November 2010
I deep-fried a turkey this year which was so good, I did it again the next day. As I had thrown out my back the day before, I built a block and tackle to lower the turkey. Mmmm... Delicious Engineering.
Erik got his first
job at PacSun. Management was impressed when he started training the seasonal employees on his own. We ordered a couch for the upstairs. Turning it into a fun hang out area with the projector, games, PC, stereo.
October 2010
Lynne hosted a talk on Cynthia Brant at the Texas Regionalist Art Symposium and was a big hit. Many of the attendees visited her gallery opening that evening at the SJS Gallery in town, and has additional shows in Austin and Monterrey.
September 2010
Erik and a few friends started the Boyd Film Guild at their High School. They are using it to translate their passion for video into fun films. (Anyone remember, by which I mean 'see', "The Banana Movie" circa 1982?...). They've been working on a Zombie movie for next month!
Aug 2010
Summer is almost over and school starts on Monday. Erik completed the Johnson O'Connor's Aptitude research and got a good sense of his direction. He's been quite a help this summer maintaining the yards and pool. Lynne is a force of nature with the shows, lectures, trips, seminars and workshops this summer - and she's enjoying it all :-). I went to LV and rode Chris' bike back. It's a different ride than mine - taller, wider n the bars and tighter to the road, rougher tires but able to ride on dirt! On bike geek note, my bike turned over 64kb - that's 64Kilobikes or 2^16-1mi.
July 2010
Yeah to my wife of 21 years! And Yeah to HFR2010 -- Another fun gathering of the Hubner clan in NY. We lost Master Erik and Miss Sarah to their cousins Matt and Natalie for a few days, so Lynne and I celebrated 21 years at Tanglewood's tribute to John Williams. Enjoyed John William conducting Yo-yo Ma play and a walkon by James Taylor - Cool! I even got to play a little Mussorgsky on stage at the Chamber Music Hall :-)
I'm going to help my best-iest of friends Chris buy a Motorcycle. But not just any bike - He was so jealous of MY cool awesome R1100RT that he had to go and top me with a BMW 1100GS! To be fair he sent me Neil's books in 2008 which inspired me to get back into the adventure last year. So here are both bikes Chris's soon to be Bumble-bee 1100GS and my 1100RT. Watch for us on the roads between Dallas and Vegas!
June 2010
OK - I finally have pictures to post of the house. It's still in disarray, but that shouldn't surprise anyone! We are so fortunate to come across this house after living in McKinney for 20 years. Click on the photo to go to Picasa for full size pictures.
We've been kept busy repairing all the broken/breaking items (it was a foreclosure...) and the pool is good but remains ...elusive. Bob and I built a pair of pool chillers as I expect the temp to get quite hot over the summer here. Clickthe image for the full build photo set.
May 2010
We are well settled into the new house which means there are too many boxes lying around! The Swamp have been resurrected back into a pool. Perfect timing because the AC went kaput! I'm hopeful to put in a geothermal system, but we'll see if we get that far. Chris came through on his move to Vegas. It great having a friend visit, and helping us move was just a bonus :-)
The school year is winding down - 3 days to go! Kids are excited as you'd expect.
April 2010 Update:
Out of the blue, Sarah received an award from the Dallas Center for Architecture and a $50 prize for an print that she made in school (I'll post asap). Awesome! Our new floor is sanded the topcoat will be applied tonight (satin over the gloss). On a related note my cellphone camera stinks! Dining Room is painted, and the move has begun! Should have 4 rooms moved this weekend. Still awaiting appliances but they should be in transit. Also, I wrote an OpenSearch app for Craiglook.com which is the best way to use Craigslist that I've ever seen! Just havent been able to post here yet...
March 2010
March has been a busy month.
We closed on the house (YEAH!) and jumped right to work. The house was a foreclosure and has a lot to repair. We've done quite a lot so far (I am sore!): Rented a jackhammer, ripped out a floor, removed wallpaper, painted, replaced the floor, prepping the cabinets for repainting, called in a plumber, etc,etc,etc,etc,etc,etc,etc... I know - need more photos!
February 2010
Inspired by the events in the Great White North (the Olympics, you hosers!), The family went Curling last weekend! Yes - in Texas. Balancing is a bit harder than you'd expect!
Sarah was a powerhouse in a school play "Still Life with Iris". She's the lead Understudy, a Thunder bottler, and the Captain.
Meanwhile Erik's Play in the BlackBoxTheater "Rule of Comedy" presented Erik as The Bards's Horatio... well sort of :-)
Our house offer was accepted (!) and we've begin the slow process of inspections, reports , and estimates. Fun fun fun...
Many of my OLM grade school mates found me on FB. Our 8th grade class photo sparked a great nostalgia trip :-)
January 2010
HNY@2KA Everyone. What a busy month. As you may know Lynne and I have been searching for a larger house since we sold the Lucas property in 2001. Well we finally found one and put an offer on it. It's a foreclosure (ahh well) so there are sure to be bumps in the road. Lynne is teaching more students at the Art House in 2-3 classes a week now, and her Meetup Group is going strong (Hi Anna!)
December 2009
Natalie is visiting us from New Jersey this week - We have permanent smile on our faces!
Erik is 16. O.M.G, as the kids would Facetweet on teh Interwebz. He's doing nicely in school on his way to earning toward a car (but only if he keeps those grades where they should be!). <--This is what we get to experience in person every day! :-) We went to see The Vocal Majority choir this week from the Christmas- so funny - the theme was "Island of the Misfit Toys" the costumes were hysterical ("Bag of Glass" anyone?) and the music was strong. Ok and this is WCPR Chief Engineer re-emerging... Can't everyone just sit when the choir sings Handel? They sit through other weighty songs... I couldn't help but fixate on the loss of the high frequencies with everyone else standing. What gives? Maybe I'll just stand thought the whole show next year..lol... [update: Handel Stands date back to King George II wiki]
I got the CNC actually tweaked to cut plastic! which is tricky as it chips or melts.
November 2009
It's Official - I have TWO teenagers in the house! Sarah turned 13 this month and had an overnight with her girlfriends a t Hotel Palomar. While there she met "The Naughty Chef". As it turns out, shes a lot nicer that you would think from her loud/boisterous show. Talented Sarah also was in the chorus of 'Oklahoma' - Everyone had fun and the kids did a wonderful job. My favorite line is "Its summer and we're running out of ice" (you'll have to look that one up).
I build a Z axis and purchased a stepper controller. Add PC and power and there you have it - a CNC machine! It mostly works as I am tuning all the axis. I should be able to cut airplane and camera mounts for the frankenplane, amongst other things. I think Chris Andersen must have been jealous because he upped me and bought a MakerBot from Bre, who knows what I like to do ( Oct 2008 below).
October 2009
I
want to build a CNC machine, so I drove to Houston on my first long bike ride - about 500 miles rt - to pickup a 1980s XY table. It was alot heavier that expected - close to 200 lbs - but was fine when secured to the transport rack that I fab'd up the night before. It was like having a very still passenger. RT-1100P performed quite well. Google moved the blog, so sorry for the lack of recent updates! Also some of the older links are dead to fullsize pix and movies. Maybe I'll repair one day... Erik and I attended the alliance Airshow - The Blue Angels were incredible!
September 2009
School is back in session (Aug actually) but the kids are settled into their routines. I got an invitation to NASA Ames last week. Chris A setup the UAV tour behind the scenes. The FLIR image (right) is my favorite. Soooo many UAV to see and great engineers to chat with. I feel like such the Amateur that I am!
August 2009
HFR2009! What a fun party! Great to see everyone and get a nice smiling Family Reunion Photo. Here it the best one imho. I'll probably retouch and repost in a week or two. Click for the full download (6meg). I'd like to suggest we ALL use it as our Christmas Card, and the object is to customize it...;-). Let me know if there are any problems getting the original - I can always email a copy too.
I have to say the Hubner Family reunions are a highlight of the year for we few at the Texas outpost. Y'all come down to see us sometime!
July 2009
You'll never guess where we've been! (and it wasn't Disney). From LA up the coast on Route 1 Cambria and Big Sur, then to San Francisco and out to Yosemite before the return to John Wayne. Camping was my favorite - Stars!, LA was Sarah and Erik's - the Warner Bros tour was most excellent. Cambria was Lynnes - Serene and beautiful and foggy. I should post more pix as we took about 1000....
Also, the house used only $20 in electricity while we were away, 20x less than normal summer...
June 2009
The first month of Summer and the temp has already reached the 100's. What a month - Dad and Uncle Eric in and out the hospital (yikes!), Lynne in San Fran for a Mosaic Art and Grant Writing Workshop, Sarah @Girlscout camp, Erik getting 90s in Biology! Pete came in for the weekend (All siblings who read this should take note- COME VISIT! In the past 20 years, we've only seen Jen Amy Fran & Pete.)
So the month had concluded quite nicely. And as I didn't write anything for April I'll also steal its catchphrase - In like a lion, out like a lamb.
May 2009
Arsenic and Old Lace was great! Teddy got the most appause each night. Erik realized the eccentric part with style. I thought the play was a freshman class production, but learned through the delighted conversations with other parents this was in fact a school-wide production. Other parents commented on how impressed that our freshman son got a lead role :-) The Choir program hosted a singing tour/class trip to Galveston via San Antonio. Erik's first long weekend trip :-); limited sunburn.
Sarah and Lynne and 5 girlfriends of all ages had an awesome weekend at Camp Kickapoo , leaving me alone at home with no motorcycle (still in the shop) so I built a HD video camera adapter for my telescope.
April 2009
Mar 2009
***FLASH*** Erik is now a BLAZIN' Champ at Buffalo Wingstop in McKinney. He ate 12 of the HOTTEST wings in under 6 minutes. Seriously WOW! I tasted the sauce and nearly died.
Erik won the part of "Teddy" in Arsenic and Old Lace - Hooray!
I took a ride up to Lake Texoma - First time I have ever been there in the 21 years I've lived in TX. It's a Lake. OK - I'm no Neil Peart - It's hard to take your own photo on a bike. (Eric- See the ultra reflective red stripes on the back? Both an EU navigation warning and the Austrian flag so it works all around.Thx!)
The Garage electronics shop is seeing a lot of use. Check GSTaTs for progress.
Feb 2009
Short Month, Short Report. I'll think of something! My fine Actor Son had a great performance in the freshman class One Act Plays. He has a great sense for comedic timing, which he "practices" continually on us at home! Lynne won 3rd in the graphics section at the MPAC center downtown. I have such a talented brood.
Jan 2009
Happy New Year One and All! My Incredible Wife and I took the Texas Motorcycle Safety Class because I bought me a BMW RT1100P ("P" for Po-lice, though it should be for Patent$). No it's not a midlife anything because midlife is at least 50! Harumphf!
I earned a slot in Microsoft Embedded Design Challenge that I learned about at MakerFaire late last year. I'm building a Ground Station Tracking and Telemetry System (GSTaTS) to track my UAV plane.
Dec 2008
New York and New Jersey (I love traveling for free!) We flew to NJ to visit family for Christmas this year which was rare delicacy excepting the hospital meals for G'ma. Stayed with Francesca and Angelo - What Fun! Ada, Danny, Erik, Evan, Janine, Katie, Natalie, and Sarah made some NYC memories together and our visits with David, Kara, Keenan, Kevin, Lisa and Matt (also alphabetical) were wonderful. Overall I got to visit over 2/3 of the family!
And I bought Linen-N-Things shelves now grace my garage. Down times are when the frugal can act. Filed more 6 patents too - a good year ender!
Nov 2008
Twice Thanksgiving, my favorite Holiday ! #1 Ed brought DC to TX and #2 found the Clavenna's at our door. No Turducken this year ;-) But so much fun eating and visiting and eating.
Oct 2008.
MAKERFAIRE! We traveled to Austin this weekend to attend this creative, not-as-large-as-last-year event. Lots of sweet robots. An DietCoke & Mentos guys. And Hula Hoops!
We ran into Bre Pettis (literally - well he hit us), the host of the MakeTV videos - What a nice guy. I was all fan-boy, and the he was just great with the kids. Being a teacher comes naturally to him. Erik was not shy when talking about my Make projects, "Dad likes to crash his airplanes".
Nice.
September 2008.
School is on full swing. Its a crossover year - Erik is my proud High School Student. I remember quite a bit from my childhood, but HS is when is started to become very detailed. Ahh hes growing up!
And lets not forget to mention our Sarah, in her first year of Middle School! She is keeping with her organized studies and enjoying it (except of course for waking up earlier!) [PS-Actually It is we parents who don't like to get up early - Sarah gets up by herself at 6:30 and is down before us!]
August 2008
We always look forward to family reunions! It is really wonderful to see my whole family get together and just relax for a few days together. Dad says Pete and I should get our own talk show because of the way we crack each other up...
July 2008
We had a contractor in to make some repairs and finish some outstanding work thats been lingering. Short story: the three day estimate turned into nine Reminds me of The Money Pit.
June 2008
Sarah is off at Girl Scout camp for a Week with "Taking the Reins" the theme. Yes there's a bit of horseback riding involved. Lynne is hard at it teaching several Art Courses this summer. With all the accolades she gets from her students, we should open the Hubner Institute anytime now!
May 2008
Erik's Final Choir performance in 8th grade was at the end of May. He's offically out of Middle School! Classes ended for the kids and they are in full Summer mode. Erik has a job as a Junior Councilor the YMCA Youth Camp. He refers to the children a "Little Devils!", so its a good first job experience. He earn community service credit for High School too.
April 2008
Sarah was in the OAKE National Children's Choir again this year, and we had a great trip to Denver. While Sarah was in rehearsals, Erik and I went indoor Skydiving which was in a word ... AWESOME! It's very different from real skydiving experience because there are objects close to you, but it was amazing nevertheless. Sarah was shock we went without her, so the following day we went back! We drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park and Erik learned all about the pleasures and tribulations involved with throwing snowballs at his Dad! Look at that hair!
March 2008
Sarah attended a Cotillion class - an opportunity for her to learn and practive many skills like dancing and manners. All the kids got dressed for a 50's Sock Hop- Sarah made her poodle skirt from scratch by herself! Dad went to the graduation - a formal affair - where he was schooled by the well behaved children on his dancing and social graces :-). We are all heading to Denver next week for her second National Children's Choir, which looks like it will be a fun time.
Sarah also recorded a multitrack recording for the Scala Choir canon. Take a listen!
February 2008
Lynne and I went to Las Vegas for a fun weekender. We saw Chris and Anne but regrettably not enough of them (our fault) Three days is not enough! Thanks goes to Suzanne for watching the kids :-)
Erik performed in the middle school performance of "Skinflints and Scoundrels" and the school received a Superior Rating from the University Interscholastic League One-Act Play Competition! Here, our Minister of Culture refuses to pay the Actors!
January 2008 - Snoozing!
December 2007
Merry Christmas to All. Our gift to you is access to our photo library. I'm adding them little by little to my gallery (left). Double-chin (above).
This Christmas was an electronic update opportunity for us - Lynne got a camera & camera phone, Sarah got a new camera (which matches Natalie's exactly!), I have a small HD camcorder again. And I'll be getting a digital picture frame in the mail shortly to hack. Lynne and the kids gave me a SlowStik (another RC plane :-) which should be fun once the weather clears up a bit.
Also I filed my second US patent for the year which is a slow but acceptable start. I still have 4 more with the lawyers.
November 2007
We had a good Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday, btw).
We used the respite for Erik to have surgery to correct a deviated septum and remove his adenoids, tonsils, etc. He recovered quickly and well and is breathing much better. He also was part of the Tech team and a Palace Guard for the school play 'Aladin'.
I think my eyes are going -- Well really, I am learning to hand-soldering surface mount components and they are SMALL. Look at your keyboard's period. That small.
October 2007
Not fun on the electronics front this month: Lynne's purse and camera were stolen and I smashed up my HD cam and GPS. (Canon: "It's beyond repair". Me:"D'oh!"). Well, thats what money is for...
Attended the MakerFaire in Austin - AWESOME group of creative people. We were humbled to fit right in.
Lastly, Sarah was an Oompa Loompa. Erik chose the Zombie path. I'd post some pictures, but....
September 2007
School year started and I am so proud of Erik. A few weeks in, he personally reorganized his schedule to put himself into all the classes he wanted in 8th grade, lobbied the teachers for approval and presented us the results. On top of that he is really excelling in his studies. What a great boy.
August 2007
We headed up to NY to visit, well, everyone! Stayed with M&D and really enjoyed seeing the whole family. The Reunion was consistently fantastic - all players present and accounted for. I took Dad for a 'ride' in my UAV plane, didn't crash, and earned back his trust, respect and approval after not becoming a real pilot when I was 15. It's about time!! ;-)
July 2007
We're were in CorollaNC OBX with the Wasek's, Amy and M&D for a week. Not too many sunburns. Kids had a blast (so did the adults!)
Lynne says the Kayaks on the ocean and sound couldn't be beat. I flew my UAV near Kitty Hawk too. Here's a view from the back yard dock. So nice and peaceful.
June 2007
School has been out all month - Sarah and Erik have had their various camps and we are preparing for the big trip to North Carolina. But even Better - My little brother Pete came down for the weekend and made me crash my plane! To make up for his guilt, Pete took us to a RoughRider's Game :-) Man I love my brother!
Also, I got haircut and moved this website to google pages so it would be faster - the movies aren't online yet as of June 28.
May 2007
Lynne had the idea to go to The Galaxy drive-in theater. We packed up and watched a double feature under the so-far cool Texas stars.
Dad invited me up to Washington DC to the USBIC meeting. I learned a lot about China and that we are d
oomed! In any case, I had great visits with Uncle Jay, Aunt Florie and AJ Rose. I haven't seen them in ages. We had a blast.
Here's AJ and I with snipers trained on us. More Pix Here (250 Meg download - should take a few hours!)
April 2007
This month went by quickly. I went to Visit Chris and Anne at their Swingin' Vegas Pad. We went to see Tony Bennett but he cancelled the show. Now we'll never see him! I had a great week anyway visiting my friends.
That still left plenty of time this for fun at home. The kids made pretzels, though they did not resemble any pretzels from yet seen. Erik had the most fun...
We're still not sure why the dough looked like that!
March 2007
It's March already already and we just returned from Chicago. Sarah had been selected to be a member of the OAKE National Children's Choir and participate at their annual conference last week. She and 150 other children sang at the Chicago Symphony Concert Hall, a wonderful performance space right across from Millenium Park in downtown. The hall was packed and the show was great. I've posted a recording here so you can enjoy too.
Erik got a few days off too and the entire family enjoyed the windy city.
February 2007
I received my Parallax processor this month - I've started to play with embedded design hardwarwe. This means I'll be able to make dedicted computing devices. Why you ask? So I don;t crash the plane as often! I flew the other day wearing my video goggles (which by the way is incredible!) and I lost radio contact from the plane - yikes no picture. I quickly removed the glasses and scanned the sky for the foam flyer. I was not successful so I killed power and trimmed out for gliding. And sweat...
After the, ahh, unsupervised landing, I once again received a feint image on the monitors. With a jury rigged portable monitor and directional antenna, I hunted for the plane. I found it with minor damage on the neighboring frisbee golf course about where I expected it. So this little adventure accellerated my Come-Home feature for the plane. When I finish, I'll be able to flip a toggle and the plane will climb to a safe altitude and turn back to its starting point. The theory goes that if it comes closer, radio signals will improve and I'll improve my airtime! I have a bunch of correlary projects, like adding an onscreen display and preprogrammed maneuvers but those should be straighforward addons..
January 2007
HNY2K7!
December 2006
Just a fast update to show that the plane is actually flight worthy. I flew it by video today, but this is the best part - the "landing". I really did do well a few times earlier, but it was getting windy... In all the years at the office, I never had to climb a tree. My biggest fear that once I was up in the tree inthe front of the building, a fire drill would start. No such luck - take that Fate! But I did seriously amuse one of the security guards.
November 2006
We had a TurDucken for Thanksgiving. This is one of those things that you see and you can't beleive someone came up with the idea. Its simple: Its a Turkey de-boned and stuffed with a Duck that was stuffed with a whole chicken. Tur-Duk-Hen. And then that is stuffed with well, stuffing. Andouille sausage stuffing to be precise because you evidently can't have enough things stuffed in other things. We put it on the grill for 4.5 hours and it was wunderbar. Kate and Jerry came up from Austin and Ed flew in from DC so it was a pretty full house. Oh and the attic is done too so we used the extra space to house guests (2 squirrels...) who I am now trying to evict.
Update on the Radio Controlled plane - I have Frankenplane rebuilt and flying and crashing. Here is a video as captured from the onboard transmitter. I know I'm geeking out on it. When I add the new camer, a better power supply design and shield the wiring a bit, the quality will improve I am sure. FirstFlight (8meg wmv, no audio)
October 2006
2 cool things to report. First, Chris moved to Las Vegas. Awesome. i have a reason to go there with Lynne and visit him! Anne is coming when the house sells, maybe sooner. He stopped by on the long NY-LAS drive. We had a good time catching up.
Next, I won an essay contest (and $ome moola!) from American Airlines and 3M. To cut to the chase, I bought an R/C plane and am fitting it with wireless video to fly from "in" it. Check out this guy's version. I'm gonna have fun!
September 2006
Have you ever been to a space launch? If you can say YES! then you can imagine the excitement at the party tonight was like. If you haven't been , stick with me here (and go!). Anousheh Ansari got her Golden Ticket to go to the International Space Station and we attended the launch party at Prodea with our friends. She was smiling the whole time ~~ or maybe the extra G's were just making it look that way! Nah - that's a smile.
Sarah already excels at science, but when she hear AA was going to be the First Space Ambassador Girl, she couldn't wait to go watch. She was smiling all night...Erik, creative as ever, inhaled helium before leaving his congratulatory message ~ I can't wait to see that video~!
August 2006
Summer was HOT. 30 days >100. and it finally rained here. for a few days. Lynne said she enjoyed the cloud cover. The Attic is nearing completion - the walls of Sarah's room are primed, and the playroom is spackled and ready for primer. After that all that's left is rerouting some ductwork and flooring. Finally!
Frank and Dawn held a great party for their graduates. Here is a zip with a bunch of pix from Megan and Jarad's graduation party
Later July 2006
Up in NY this week for HFR2k6. It was a blast - Got to see ALL the brothers and Sisters and nieces and nephews a few uncles and inlaws everywhere in between. David is the Youngest, Dad a is the Eldest. Both are Handsome and Smart (ask Fran!) Pete did a great job with the glow stick entertainment (and meat slicing). Lynne the kids and I spent a night with my best friend Chris and Anne at their house (for sale) in Hunter just minutes from the slopes.
All the visiting was the best. We miss everyone!
July 2006
We were in France this week. Lynne, Ed and I traveled over for a fun vacation across Northern France. we were fortunate to see both the first day of Le Tour and be in Strasbourg when France beat Portugal and got in to the World Cup finals. The town was partying all night long! Allez les Bleues! Driving east to Mont St Michel over the week and ending up in Paris was quite an adventure. I am officially cathedraled out.
I rather enjoyed Monet's gardens and happily sat in the rain while the bus tours ran for cover. And our pipe organ concert was fantastic.
More maybe later. I'm off to NY
June 2006:
Well I am finally back online. After taking a few years off from publishing anything of a personal nature, I have relented and put this little page back together. Not much to show for all that time away, but I will link to several features.
Hubner.net email is back online. this time it is hosted by my good friends at Google. Here's that picture with the Chief Internet Evangelist and me. Vint is a great guy and I am lucky to have worked with him over the years.
Lynne and Sarah were out biking last weekend. They did the Waco Texas Cow Creek rally.. Sarah did 10 miles Here first ride and best ever!
More pictures will be available one day...
I'm off to France. Back in a few weeks.
Copyright whatever year you are reading this (2006-2010!!).
