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Olympics and camping gear
Aug. 11th, 2008 10:20 pmThe nice thing about watching the Olympics opening ceremonies via Tivo is that it can be done at everyone's convenience. So I ended up having Saturday as my "free day" and did the Olympics viewing at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
scotica's on Sunday. I now have a foam mattress for the platform in the back of the Element. I covered it with fabric that used to be a set of sheets (the sheets that convinced me that thread count actually is important ... and that a thread count of 150/inch should never be allowed to touch my body). I checked out all the logistics of platform function. (Pictures will follow at some point.) Both the expanded and contracted positions operate as desired. I've measured and marked off the corner of the plywood that needs to be trimmed so that it can swing over into the expanded position while in place. I've confirmed that my bike fits in next to the platform in the contracted position. I've confirmed that the gear storage totes fit and are accessible under the platform in the contracted position. And I've drawn up the "standard equipment" checklist for the gear totes. The goal of all this hyper-organization, as usual, is to make it as easy as possible to take off for a weekend without forgetting anything. Now I've got a week and a half to decide where I want to go. It's kind of funny how I wasn't really thinking about doing non-medieval camping when I picked out the Element, but now I've gotten rather excited about it.
Olympics: nice. Great opening ceremony. Obvious heart-string jerking. Excellent use of host-country history and imagery. We followed the opening with Tivoed selections from equestrian, men's gymnastics, synchronized diving, and snippets of assorted other sports. For the rest of it, I'm going to be stuck with whatever NBC decides to put on the main channel. Beach volleyball? Is this really the best use of prime time?
scotica's on Sunday. I now have a foam mattress for the platform in the back of the Element. I covered it with fabric that used to be a set of sheets (the sheets that convinced me that thread count actually is important ... and that a thread count of 150/inch should never be allowed to touch my body). I checked out all the logistics of platform function. (Pictures will follow at some point.) Both the expanded and contracted positions operate as desired. I've measured and marked off the corner of the plywood that needs to be trimmed so that it can swing over into the expanded position while in place. I've confirmed that my bike fits in next to the platform in the contracted position. I've confirmed that the gear storage totes fit and are accessible under the platform in the contracted position. And I've drawn up the "standard equipment" checklist for the gear totes. The goal of all this hyper-organization, as usual, is to make it as easy as possible to take off for a weekend without forgetting anything. Now I've got a week and a half to decide where I want to go. It's kind of funny how I wasn't really thinking about doing non-medieval camping when I picked out the Element, but now I've gotten rather excited about it.Olympics: nice. Great opening ceremony. Obvious heart-string jerking. Excellent use of host-country history and imagery. We followed the opening with Tivoed selections from equestrian, men's gymnastics, synchronized diving, and snippets of assorted other sports. For the rest of it, I'm going to be stuck with whatever NBC decides to put on the main channel. Beach volleyball? Is this really the best use of prime time?
