Frozenrobot

Gillian On Ice

Ryan Frost — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:05:40 +0000

So I bought Gillian some equipment so she could play in an adults beginner league in Kearney, we showed up, I helped her get on all of the equipment, we got out on the ice, and guess what…she is pretty damn good! It is really quite irritating, Gillian tends to excel at most things; SCUBA, rugby, swimming, horseback riding, painting, cooking, cake decorating, convincing me to remodel the kitchen, and now she can add ice hockey to her arsenal. Now I’m not saying she is going to be on the next USA Woman’s Olympic Hockey Team, but for a sport that is fundamentally ridiculous she does very well.

Let’s face it, hockey is a sport where you strap knifes to you feet, step out onto a frozen pond with walls and hit a rubber disk with funny looking stick…ridiculous. Hockey also has a huge learning curve, you have to be able to move forward, backwards, and stop all while balancing on two, 1/8 inch blades. Then once you figure out the basics of moving there is stick handling, passing, shooting, checking, and rules like off-sides and icing, but I digress.

Gillian already knew how to skate, though it had been many years since she had done it, I was impressed with her switching from skating forward to backwards without falling on her ass. Stopping on the other hand was a bit trickier, the problem with learning how to skate at “open skates” is that you never have to stop you just skate in circles, or ovals, then try to get off the ice without falling. So after a little coaching; keep your knees bent, keep your head up, throw your hip, Keep Your Knees Bent, she got the hang of it, at least enough to keep her from sliding into the boards.

The funniest part is watching everyone else around her. Like with all sports, Gillian plays aggressively, she is also the smallest person on the ice, so when she goes charging at the other team to get the puck they don’t really know what to do. Every time she falls, even if no one is around her, you hear someone say “oh, sorry, are you ok?” After a few more games and a little more coaching I think they are going to stop being so nice to her, because they won’t have too. She even scored a goal last games! The Goalie wasn’t in the net, but it still counts.

Interesting Couple of Weeks

Ryan Frost — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:58:52 +0000

It has been an interesting couple of weeks. There was the SL 500 parked at Wal-Mart, which just seems wrong to me. I keep scaring myself with my own hat and jacket at work. Then we got this crazy postcard in the mall. I mean really, mountains in Nebraska? I guess the dragon and the goat with seven laser eyes is also kind of odd. The good part is the “Pastor” put his picture on the back so I know if I see him, that he is crazy and I should be leaving.

We also had Olive knock the dog treats off the counter into her water bowl, destroying the bowl. Of course all she wants is her damn dinner! Then there is Gordie, who is so fixated on the ball he doesn’t realize he has a leaf stuck to his nose.

There is a bit of news too. Gillian has decided she wants to learn to play hockey…so I went on a shopping spree. I bought all her equipment without her actually being there, so I think I did a pretty damn good job, the breezers might be a little small but they will work. Gillian’s first game/practice is tonight! I think I am more excited then she is.

I haven’t heard anything about the eBay Motors Master Contest yet. I don’t think I won, the winner was supposed to be notified on Sept. 23 and it will be announced Oct. 1st.

Oh and one more thing, I just realized I have been doing this blog thing for over a year.

eBay Motors Master

Ryan Frost — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:49:42 +0000

The eBay Motors Master is a contest though eBay Motors with the grand prize being $2500 eBay Motors shopping spree and a free trip to the SEMA show in Las Vegas. This is my entry , please rate my video, 20% off the score is based off rating the other 80% is based on a panel of judges and you could also win $1000 to eBay motors. I will be posting a bloopers reel later.

Viva Mexico!

Ryan Frost — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:16:55 +0000

As many of you know, because we booked the trip almost a year ago, Gillian and I and Santi and Sarah and Chris and Kathleen spent last week at a resort in Tulum, Mexico. Yes, we got the band back together and went on another tour.

The four days we spent in Mexico started with drinking beer in the back of a van, because it is legal in Mexico, I assume. The all inclusive resort had two pools, five restaurants, 3 bars including a swim up bar, a beautiful beach and, as Gillian wont let us forget, an ocean trampoline. The first day and a half we spent relaxing and drinking colorfully cocktails, I liked the Mango Daiquiris. Thursday was repelling, zip lining and a tour of the Mayan ruins of Tulum. Friday morning we went snorkeling at a ref near the resort. The snorkeling was great, the boat ride back where I turned ghost white an nearly hurled my all inclusive breakfast into the ocean, was less than amusing…for me. Despite us all getting sunburns,mainly Sarah, Santi and Chris, we all had a excellent time.

Gillian and I didn’t buy any souvenirs but I did come home with a very cliche cause of “stomach problems”.

Viva Mexico!

Awesome Hat!?!

Ryan Frost — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:24:48 +0000

So I bought this and I think it is awesome and I think I can pull it off, but there is a few problems with it. I can’t wear it to work, because this is not the kind of hat you wear to design farm machinery. I also have some concerns about wearing it when we go out, because this is the kind of hat frequently worn by douchebags. I don’t consider myself a douchebag, so I must be careful not to be too obnoxious while wearing the hat. I do think the beard adds some credibility to my not-douchebagedness… right?

9 Liters of Blood

Ryan Frost — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:07:18 +0000

That is the equivalent of the 20 units of blood I have donated to the Red Cross over the last four or so years, yesterday was my 20th. I started donating when my mother went on dialysis, before her kidney transplant. I have never felt light headed and once I finally get in the chair, after answering the 127 million questions that you have to answer every time, it only takes me about 10 minutes to bleed. It is not nearly as bad as people think, I actually prefer it to the dentist. Anyway, I guess this is my service announcement. If you meet all the Red Cross’s requirements and you don’t pass out at the sight of a needle then you should donate, it saves lives.

Update: if anyone was curious, my blood type is O Positive.

America…Hell Yea!

Ryan Frost — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:12:47 +0000

4th of July went off with a bang, pun defiantly intended. Thank You to everyone who came out to visit, it was a blast! Pun intended again. I have a few pictures here. There really aren’t that many good ones, except the ones of Sarah showing here patriotism.

I did manage to replace the broken springs on the BMW, before the 4th. It was easier then I thought it was going to be, it just took a week to gets the parts. It is a good thing too. Lets just say, Gillian and I have decide the key to a happy marriage is drive separate cars to work.

What the F$%&, BMW!?!

Ryan Frost — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:43:29 +0000

UPDATE: I got the broken springs out last night, it involve; removing the sway bar, disconnecting the differential mount and 5 jack stands. Now I am just waiting on new parts.

I got the shocks for the BMW on Friday and after work I got the car up in the air and took the wheels off. That is when I figured out what that rattling noise was. The bottom coil of both springs had broken off, this is something that should never happen, I thought. Yes, the shocks also still need to be replace, the broken springs probably caused them to fail. Now I also need to replace the springs, which I had to order, so now both cars in the garage don’t run. After examining the broken coils, it looks like they have been broken for a long time. Neither Gillian or I can remember ever hearing a large Bang! let allow two large Bangs!, and we have never overloaded it, so they might have been broken ever since we bought the car. It really is a testament to how well BMW builds suspensions, that we can drive with broken springs and we never noticed until the shocks started to fail and the broken piece started to rattle. Now I have to wait for parts to continue this mechanical drama.

Swag!

Ryan Frost — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:33:55 +0000

…or is it shwag? I never know with you crazy kids and your hipster lingo. Everyone was given one of these bags at work because we went 100 days with out a “lost time incident”, basically meaning no one got hurt. Going a 100 days without getting hurt may not sound like that big of a deal, but you have to consider there are some 800 or so people working 8-10 hours a day building large farm equipment and no one so much as busted a knuckle or dropped something on their foot. Anyway, this post is mainly just to keep my blog from getting stagnant, like some others. I don’t really have much to type about, this bag is one of the more exciting things to happen lately. Which is fine, I have had enough excitement in the past few months. I did finally fix the hole in our siding that I made when I put the hot grill to close and it melted, I didn’t take picture of the fix because it doesn’t look great, it just looks fixed. We also went to see the Beach Boys a few weeks back with Gillian parents and Santi and Sarah, as a Father’s Day present. It was a great show and they surprisingly played for almost two and a half hours straight! Also, surprising to some, but not to me, I knew almost all the songs. Oh, and in Falcon news, I finally bought some used cylinder heads off ebay and I am having them and the transmission rebuilt by a guy I play hockey with.

And speaking of cars, the rear shocks on Gillian’s car need to be replaced, so I got it up in the air to take a look and it seemed like no big deal to replace…I was wrong. Yes, I am going to be an asshat and bitch about our BMW, oh poor me, poor me. Anyway, I guess the problem really isn’t BMW as much as it is the local BMW dealership, but the only reason I have to deal with the dealership is because nearly every replacement part on the car is a dealership only part. What really frustrates me though is that A) the parts department isn’t open on the weekend so when I wanted to fix I couldn’t and B) when I called them on Monday to get the part they didn’t have it in stock so they had to order it! How the hell do they not have SHOCKS in stock! That’s like saying, “sorry we are out of motor oil, we are going to have to order it.” Oh, and for some reason it is going to take a week to get here! So apparently BMW shocks are not made, they are grown, on a small Dampener Farm some where in Bavaria! OK, I feel better know, I probably won’t have the parts until next week, hopefully replacing them won’t be as frustrating as buying them.

3 Years

Ryan Frost — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:54:08 +0000

Last Wednesday, June 3rd, Gillian and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary. We both almost forgot, again this year. Last year we didn’t remember until Erika sent us and e-mail congratulating us. This is further proof that Gillian and I truly don’t understand calenders. Hopefully this also shows our friends and family that just because we forget which day your birthday, anniversary, or child’s first baptism lands on, it doesn’t mean that we don’t care.