Month: August 2009

PVC Teardrop Bicycle Trailer

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Tech, TravelLeave a comment

Awhile ago I posted a link from Dvice.com where this guy built a trailer for his bicycle to go to Burning man:

Tiny bicycle-towed house is self-sufficient

Ok so when I looked at the article in the Dvice website it had a link for Ecofriend so I clicked that then scrolled to the next link for TinyHouseDesign.  I scrolled down that article about the same trailer until I found that this person created a PVC teardrop bicycle trailer design.

pvctrailerIsn’t that just the most awesome thing you ever seen?  And someone is building it right now.  Roy the PVC guy is building it in his garage.  He just has all the PVC put together but scroll down to the comments section on that page to see my comments.  I offered a couple suggestions that I think will make it more interesting.

I’ve been thinking about this WAY too much.  If I didn’t read the Dvice.com website I would’ve never found this.  I don’t know if that’s good or bad because now I’m obsessed.  I don’t know if it’s a good obsession though lol.

I can see some practical applications with this.  If you are traveling the country like Crazy James from Big Brother 9 then this can come in handy because you can just pull over wherever you are and go to bed.  You don’t have to set up a tent or get a motel room, just pull over, climb in and go to sleep.

The guy who went to Burning man, his trailer had solar panels so during the day it collects electricity I’m guessing into a battery and that powers the fan and it could charge your cell phone, mp3 player, keep your laptop powered up etc.  He also had a built in urinal but you have to stand outside to use it.  You pee into a funnel that goes into a 1 gallon water bottle.  I can see a problem with that, indecency maybe?  I mean especially if a cop was driving by and you were peeing into a trailer on the outside lol.  All you would need is one of those urinal things that they give you in the hospital, you just sit inside the trailer, close the door, open your shorts and pee lol.  But he doesn’t have anything for #2 but I’m sure you could find a way.

Actually if you go to campmor.com they sell camp gear and they have a toilet that you can sit on but it’s afoldable chair with a hole in it with a tent and you can poop into a plastic bag then tie the bag up when you are finished and throw it in the trash.  You could also dig a hole, crap in the hole then bury it lol.  Also they sell these shower enclosures so you can take a private shower with a 5 gallon water bottle that you fill with the lake water then let it sit in the sun all day so you can take a warm shower.

Well I don’t have a real reason for having one of these trailers but it really does look neat.  I think that it would be great for a homeless person to have one of these, that is if they can’t get their hands on an EDAR.  I can see building one of these just in case you know?  Just in case I fall under hard times and all of a sudden I’m out on the street with nowhere to go.  I’d at least have a little trailer to live in.  I could take it over to the bike trail where there are all those trees at Manor St.  I see a homeless guy sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag.  I hope it never comes to that but you never know what might happen.

DJ AM Dies

On By Michel McDonaldIn CelebritiesLeave a comment

DJ AM Dies – Source TMZ

Wow I just heard the news via friend update on Facebook.  DJ AM died of an alleged overdose of drugs and was found dead in his New York apartment this afternoon.  Friends haven’t heard from him in days and someone went to check on him and there was no answer at the door so the friend called the cops who gained entry and found him dead with some drugs nearby.

I remember hearing about him being in the plane accident with Travis Barker which was horrible that they went through that.  I think that was around the time or maybe after Travis Barkers reality show.  I’m so glad that they survived the crash but it’s really sad to hear that he died in this manner.

My heart goes out to DJ AM’s friends and family during this difficult time.

Kidnapped 18 Years Ago, Found With 2 Kids

On By Michel McDonaldIn NewsLeave a comment

California Girl Kidnapped 18 Years Ago Kept as Sex Slave in Couple’s Backyard – Source Foxnews.com

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASx5ThZLMzQ

This poor girl was kidnapped 18 years ago by a sex offender and kept as a sex slave in this couples back yard.  The man who kidnapped her fathered 2 children who are now 11 and 15 years old.  None of them have been to school which is a real shame.

This poor girl, now woman, is going to need a lot of therapy and so are her 2 children.  This whole story makes me sick that she was kidnapped and kept as a sex slave.

The couple and the kidnapped victims all walked into the police station where the couple turned themselves in.  It’s just too bad it took 18 years for them to do the right thing.  This should’ve never happened.  Now the man is claiming that he is a different person and that he’s changed yadda yadda yadda.  He is a registered sex offender, how did his probation officer never search the property?  I think they should start searching the property of all these sex offenders every so often.  You never know what your gonna find and they just might save lives.

GPS Gives You 4 Days of Your Life Back

On By Michel McDonaldIn TechLeave a comment

Study: GPS gives you four days of your life back – Source Dvice.com

This is a very interesting article about how a GPS can give you back 4 days of your life per year.  How can they make such a claim?  Because when you use a GPS to get around it can help you to avoid getting lost as well as avoiding traffic jams.  So basically you get to your destination faster, you use less gas, you waste less time and spew less carbon dioxide into the air.

I personally think that this is a true claim.  Just yesterday I printed directions from google maps to drive to a customers house to deliver some packages for Darrin, he works at a lighting store and he had to make 2 deliveries.  I went with him so we took his SUV instead of his work van because he really can’t have anyone in the van with him.  So anyway, I was telling him where to go according to the printout and we almost got lost because of the street names.  There is Stine and New Stine, we were supposed to turn left on New Stine and stay on Stine when it changes but I had him turn on Stine instead lol.  It’s very confusing.  We got all the way to the dead end and were like where the heck are we?

We ended up getting there but we could’ve gotten there sooner if Darrin had a GPS instead.

Having a GPS not only saves time, gas and the environment but it also saves money on paper and printer ink.

Everyone Deserves A Roof

On By Michel McDonaldIn CharityLeave a comment

I was browsing this website which features a concept design for building a little trailer home for a bicycle and one of the commenters linked this.

Everyone Deserves A Roof aka EDAR

This is meant specifically for the homeless in Los Angeles who cannot or will not go to one of the homeless shelters.  Cannot because they don’t have enough cots or will not because they are too proud or whatever reason they might have.

It’s a cart during the day that you can roll around to collect your cans and bottles for recycling or maybe even perhaps to store your belongings in then at night it’s a tent to sleep in.  If you do decide to go to the shelter you can sleep in your EDAR and have privacy instead of sleeping on a cot with everyone else.

When I was kicked out of the house by my mother when I was 17 I was homeless.  I was living place to place for short periods of time until the person I was staying with no longer wanted me there.  Eventually I had to go to a shelter in Simi Valley and stayed there for many months until the program ended for the summer.  By then I was back on my feet and renting a room in the home of a Vietnamese family.

So when I hear about something like this it makes me happy that there is something to help the homeless during the time they cannot go to the shelters.  But the issue is, where can you set it up and sleep in it without the cops opening the flap up and telling you to move somewhere else?

This is a good thing for homeless people in my opinion.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCtn_F4JCig

http://www.thenewsroom.com/mash/swf/cube.swf?a=V3571840&m=905116

Doctor Visit

On By Michel McDonaldIn DoctorLeave a comment

I went to my regular doctor today and told him that I’m still having shoulder pain despite the steroids and muscle relaxers the RN from the Neurologist gave me.  I told him that she was going to give me a referral for another specialist but that could take weeks, months even and I just can’t suffer like this for months.  She said that I would have to see a specialist before I could get a cortisone shot.

Well, my regular doctor said if they had those x-rays they could just give me the shots there.  I called the neurologist office and asked them to send the x-rays to my doctor’s office because I’m tired of messing around.  This has been going on for too long now, 5 weeks in excruciating pain.

In the meantime he gave me a prescription for Vicodin (SWEET) and that should be ready soon.  The thing is, I’ve taken that for this pain and it doesn’t help.  Well, then again, that prescription expired on 2/09 so maybe that has something to do with it lol.

When my toenails were taken off I was in a lot more pain than this and the vicodin numbed the pain so if it works for that then it should work for this.

Sad news about my doctor though, today was his last day.  He’s moving back east and he said something about making more money so that’s good I guess.  It’s not easy working for the city in a clinic I guess, you just don’t make as much as you would’ve thought you would when you went to Medical school.  I’ll miss him and have to get used to yet another doctor.

Free Adult Buffet Meal

On By Michel McDonaldIn FoodLeave a comment

Today is my 1 year anniversary since I signed up with Hometown Buffet through their website.  When I signed up I got a free adult buffet meal and then I got another coupon via email on my birthday and now today I just got another coupon for a free adult buffet meal on my 1 year anniversary.

I just thought I would pass along the savings by giving you this link to sign up with the Hometown Buffet eclub.  That link was given to me in my coupon to email to people but I thought I would do better by posting the link here in my blog for you all instead.  I’m not sure what happens by allowing people to sign up with me as a reference but who knows, I might get more free coupons lol.

Tiny Bicycle-Towed House is Self Sufficient

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike1 Comment

Tiny bicycle-towed house is self-sufficient – from Dvice.com

This is awesome!  I couldn’t think of anything better for a person who is homeless.  Besides it being so claustrophobic I think I could live in this if I absolutely had to.

Of course this isn’t an ideal living space but as long as you are happy with it then that’s fine.

This guy made it “just in case Swine Flu resulted in an apocalypse that required him to be entirely self-sufficient” lol.  It was only meant for him to have shelter during Burning Man but I can see using it some other times.  For example you could go camping with this and you can move around and never have to worry about setting camp up again.

My concern is, where do you store all of your food?  I mean, food is going to make this thing too heavy to pull.  It’s still cool and I wish I had one lol.

Hypospray Is Reality

On By Michel McDonaldIn TechLeave a comment

Needle-free injection systems takes a cue from air bags – from Dvice.com

This is awesome.  They finally have the Star Trek hypospray.  I don’t know what took them so long.  This will be great for diabetics who don’t really like sticking themselves everyday to get their insulin injections.

The days of sharing needles for drug users will be over too, that is if they can get one of these.  I’m not promoting it, just saying that there won’t be the risk of contamination of needles and exposing people to the AIDS virus.

Video Advertising Comes To Print Media

On By Michel McDonaldIn TechLeave a comment

A Los Angeles company creates a video player that can be installed in the pages of a magazine.

This has to be the coolest thing to happen to magazines since well, the magazine.  But unfortunately the only people who are going to get this will be those who have subscribed and only New York and Los Angeles.  This will be the beginning of a new era for magazines.  It sorta reminds me of Harry Potter except that in Harry Potter the images don’t speak and it’s all over the newspaper not just in 1 page.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr8F5wWuKFs