Atomic Zombie Extreme Machines!: Hobbies

bike plans coming, New York Bike Kill, winter is here

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 16:56:51 GMT

Yeah, I can already hear you - "Where are the new videos and downloads?" We've had some technical problems that had to be fixed first so we're a week behind. Just because you need to do something right away, stuff breaks down, computers run out of memory, hard drives run out of space, software glitches take hours to figure out, you know, everything just seems to go wrong. So, this week and upcoming weekend will be spent editing the videos and getting the Meridian Long Wheel Base Recumbent and Bandito Short Wheel Base Recumbent downloads done. But, some good things have happened recently that outweigh the negative stuff.

Toronto based artist Janet Attard sent us some cool black and white photos taken by Martin of Cine Cycle when they were in New York recently for the Bike Kill in Brooklyn. You can see lots of pics and vids on YouTube and Flickr. Just type in key phrases like "Bike Kill New York" and you'll get tons of info. This annual full-day block party event features home built chops, tall bike jousting and lots more. Some very interesting and wild bike creations at that event.

Just signed on with McGraw-Hill to do another book, 51 High-Tech Practical Jokes for the Evil Genius. There will be all kinds of projects for beginners to advanced tinkerers, even a chapter on Halloween projects to scare the bejeezes out of unsuspecting trick or treaters. This one will be alot of fun to do. Now all we have to do is round up a group of "victims" to try our pranks on. It will be out in September 2007.

Won a prize from Instructables last month (thanks, Eric). A set of sunglasses and spy camera from Spy Gear. I know they're made for kids, but I've been having a blast snapping pics. The resolution is 640 x 480 dpi and the unit holds 20 color pictures, so it's pretty decent. Wish there was something like this around when I was a kid. Well, I get to regress back to my childhood and play around with my new toy. Beats doing boring paperwork!

Weatherwise, the weekend was pretty decent. Saturday was warm enough to get some yard work done and clean the truck inside and out, the house windows, bag leaves and twigs. Sunday was nice, too, sunny and bright. Felt good to go for a long walk and soak in some rays. I enjoy walking. It seems as though winter arrives pretty late in recent years. We haven't had much rain this fall, causing water shortages in rural areas, brush fires and prompting our city to issue water conservation warnings. Today, it's cold, freezing rain and dull. This is the type of weather we used to have throughout the fall, but it's really quite late. No sense complaining. Winter happens - eventually.

Atomic Zombie Extreme Machines web stats for October 2006

Hits	2,243,579
Visitors	79,208
Page views	229,338

Welding chick!

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 18:07:02 GMT

It was only +23 today, what a relief! I can actually sit here for an hour and get some things done. Never thought I'd say this but thank goodness we have a cooler day. It's been so unbelievably hot everywhere, it seems.

We are seriously going to have some Atomic Zombie decals made in the next few weeks, black decal with chrome lettering, that will easily affix to bikes, vehicles, whatever you want. They will be laminated to protect against the weather, too. Stay tuned for more updates as they become available.

Brad is just organizing his workbench now, the ultimate garage cleaning and organizing extravaganza is finally over. Yep, he's ready to rock, build, grind, weld, paint and go wild.

Speaking of welding, guess who just bought herself a new welder's helmet today? Yep, I'm taking the plunge folks, I'm getting into the bike building thing, too. Just in time since the weather seems to be cooling off a bit.

So, yours truly will be learning along side Mr. AZ himself. I'll be blogging along the way. I really hope that more women get into this.

I have some designs in my head for various bikes, trailers and accessories, now I can actually try to build them myself. I've always wanted to learn how to build stuff, even though I sucked at high school shop class. I did want to learn more about using a lathe, but the class was only half the school year and the most I did was make a letter opener and notepad holder out of wood. Not appealing to me.

I might be able to start this weekend, but only if I get some house painting done first. I'm quite excited about this. Maybe some couples don't work well together, but I don't foresee any problems. We're a team in everything that we do. Woo hoo!

Atomic Zombie Extreme Machines web stats for July 2006

Hits	2,198,725
Visitors	67,765
Page views	302,154

Spincycle takes a spin

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 01:49:51 GMT

It's +5°C, but with the wind it feels like -7°C. Of course it's windy which made our video and photo shoot very interesting. Brad took the new SpinCycle out for its debut before she leaves for Calgary tomorrow for the Telus World of Science show May to September.

SpinCycle is a wicked ride on smooth surfaces. You get a decent workout even riding it for only 20 minutes. I was freezing taking pics and vids, but Brad was actually working up a sweat. Will post some vids and more pics this week.

My Wild Kat recumbent is painted, the seat is almost done (thanks, Mom) and we'll be on the road later this week, as long as it doesn't snow again. Sunday it snowed for most of the day, but thankfully it didn't stay on the ground long. Awesome paint job, AZ! I'm lovin' it.

Next bike to be built is the Convoy. Brad's already started working on that. Will keep you in suspense until it's done. It's going to be another cool ride.

Will be getting the download service up in the next week or so. Stay tuned for more updates and insanity.

Saw an awesome documentary yesterday, "Metal: The Headbanger's Journey". Highly recommend you check it out. Metal: The Headbanger's Journey. You won't be disappointed. Well worth the $ you will pay to see it.

www.atomiczombie.com