Little Projects

Winter Semester finished back in April and as a consequence I have been trying to diversify things by picking up a few new hobbies.

PROJECT #1

First, i decided that since we didn't have a BBQ grill and summer was already upon us I needed to remedy that little fact. I scoured the classified ads on KSL and finally found a fairly nice off-set smoker for a few bucks. I then began my look for anyone with fruit trees that needs wood removed.

I found a lady in west Salt Lake City who needed a peach tree cut down and was willing to give all the wood to whoever came and took care of the tree. With some convincing I talked my buddy Alex into going to Salt Lake with me and working on this tree. 

Now, when I heard peach tree I was thinking an orchard size, manageable peach tree and the lady's description seemed a little off; she said the tree was probably 30-40 feet tall. When Alex and I arrived at the house no one was home. As Alex was backing the truck up I walked into the back yard and immediately started laughing. The tree had fallen over on top of the phone and Internet lines pulling a good sized section of the side panels of the house off with them and there was no way this tree was 30-40 feet tall! The tree we encountered on that evening was at least 80 feet tall and about 40-50 feet wide! 

Alex and I quickly decided that our priority would be to clear the branches away from the cables and help this lady out as much as possible and then take the wood we wanted, because there was no way we were going to be able to take everything. Eventually, after two hours we left a little after dark with a pick-up load full of wood. 

The next day I began sorting the wood by how green it was and fired up the smoker for some fun. 

I have now done a few different meats, rubs, and brines with my new toy, but my first was a pork loin, unfortunately I did not take a picture of it. But a week later I did another pork loin, only this time I wrapped the thing in Bacon! 

After about five hours hte pork finally came up to temperature and was ready to be pulled off. I let the Pork sit, double wrapped in tin-foil and then wrapped in towels, for about 30 minutes after pulling it out of the smoker. Then it was time for dinner!

The bacon was an idea that I had seen on a number of recipes online, but it wasn't Kendra's nor my favorite. But on the bright side the meat was perfectly smoked, extremely moist, and simply delicious! Anyone that comes to Provo this summer let us know and we'll plan on having some good 'ol BBQ. 

PROJECT #2

The second hobby I picked up was more like a one time thing, but it was still fun. I decided in March that we would need a nice desktop computer since I will lose access to the graduate student lab after this year. So instead of paying for a pre-made machine, I decided that I would build my own. 

After a ton of research and pricing I came up with a buidl that would meet my needs for work (heavy data processing), provide enough graphics for an eventual upgrade to a high definition monitor for media and a few games, and storage space that was fast and large. In the end we have a really high end machine for half the price it would have cost to buy pre-made. Below are some pictures from the build. 

After the initial build I added a graphics card and two additional monitors, purchased from BYU's surplus sale for $30 a piece! 

PROJECT #3

Finally, my last side project has been finding furniture for the house. We have been using Kendra's sisters extra dresser and TV stand, but she is moving with her husband and family to Pennsylvania in July and will be coming to collect her things. So, I went around to a number of garage sales last weekend and found a good TV stand - $25 - that we could re-work and an IKEA china cabinet (something else we have wanted for kitchen organization) - $40. 

The TV stand started out all black and has some tiles on top that had been painted teal. I made a quick stop at LOWES for a power sander and went to work. 

I am going to sand the legs and then put a finish on the wood and sponge paint the tile with a black pattern (the teal paint has obviously been removed and a cream base will be added before the sponge pattern). And if that clashes with the rest of the living-room, I can simply paint the thing black and count the sanding to the removal of nasty dents (most of which seem to haved been caused by a rouge child with a fork. 

Kendra and I are having fun and enjoying the summer as much as we can with work, research, and school and these side projects simply add to the fun! 

Cheers,

David and Kendra