Yay – the 2010 PWD for Pack 106 is over! It was a very busy few days for the all of us who helped out, and while it was fun, I’m glad it’s over until next year!

Jacob’s car won 2nd place overall for speed out of 60 or so cars! It was a very close match-up between his car and the winner’s, but the 1st place competitor was consistently a couple hundredths of a second ahead. My guess is that it came down to superior wheel alignment, which we’ll definitely have to pay more attention to next year. For what it’s worth, we spent most of our “tuning” time on polishing the axles and proper weight placement, but besides ensuring that the car itself went straight, we didn’t worry too much about perfect wheel alignment.

Rebecca’s car was even faster, which I think surprised everyone! She got 4th place in the “Siblings/Adult” race, and was racing against some previous years’ winners, so that’s a very good showing! Mine was an abysmal 10th place – all 3 of the kids beat me soundly!

Another father and I also ran some fun tests to see if “weight in the back” really makes a difference, and the results were interesting: Jacob’s car was consistently faster going forwards (weight in the back) instead of backwards. However, his friend Jake’s car was faster backwards, which we think might be due to a improperly aligned front-wheel causing excess friction against the track. A better experiment could be done easily by just building a simple car using movable weights. The car itself would have to weigh very little, and have the weights be very dense and properly balanced at extreme positions. Maybe next year, I’ll give this a shot for fun.

The debate on 3-wheeled v. 4-wheeled designs continues too! Other packs in the area require all 4 wheels to be on the track, whereas we allow (and even recommend) 3-wheeled cars. The winner this year ran with all 4 wheels, while our cars all used 3-wheel designs, so there might be something to be said for keeping all 4 wheels spinning all the time.

I’m also reconsidering the axle hole style we used: I re-drilled our axle slots using a Dremel-driven drill press instead of cutting new axle shafts. While holes are more stable, they definitely cut down on the amount of adjustment you can do once the wheels are in.

All-told, we had a great time, and are really looking forward to our designs in 2011!

This is Jacob’s first year in Cub Scouts, so obviously it’s his first exposure to the Pinewood Derby. What a year to join Scouts! It’s the BSA’s 100th Anniversary, so this year’s PWD is actually being held at the Worcester DCU! There’s lots of other stuff to see, but we’re all excited to see how well our cars perform.

I have fond memories of my own PWD as a kid, but things have definitely changed since then.. it’s much more “high tech” than I remember, and the after-market for car parts, designs, tools, books, etc. is incredible. You can easily spend tons of money (and time!) getting your car built. Anyway, our Pack (Grafton 106) has a separate “Parents and Siblings” race too, so we decided to do cars for Rebecca, Amanda, and me. We did pretty much everything together (I handled all of the dangerous and/or very tricky stuff for them) and had a lot of fun both designing and building the cars. It’s been a very busy few weeks from start to finish! Weigh-in is tonight, and I hope we’ve kept all of them in the neighborhood of 5.0 ounces.

I underestimated the amount of time Amanda’s would take, though, so it’s not pictured above, and I’m not sure she’ll get to race it. But I don’t think she really cares, either – as long as she ends up with a “cool yellow car!” she’ll be happy. When I’m done with it, hopefully by Saturday, I’ll put a picture of it up here.

I still haven’t gotten around to posting our vacation pictures, but can tell you we had a whole bunch of fun! Chincoteague island in Virginia was, I think for all of us, the highlight of the trip. We just spent a day there, but it was beautiful and fun and instantly leaped to #1 on our list of places to retire.

Anyway, as the title indicates, Jacob had a recurrence of Lyme last week. We spent another long night in the hospital having a bunch of doctors look at him. I insisted upon a Lumbar Puncture, what with his recent bout with Lyme Menangitis, and luckily it came back clean. So, he’s back on some antibiotics, and of course we’re watching him, and his sisters, closely for any danger signs. For anyone who’s not familiar with Lyme, I highly suggest you do some reading: it’s frightening for sure, but knowing what you’re talking about (and potentially dealing with) can absolutely mean the difference between a treatable infection and life-long debilitation. Feel free to contact either Mary Lou or me with any questions.

Onto more pleasant stuff!

Jacob has entered the Cub Scouts, and I’ve volunteered as an Assistant (Wolf) Den Leader. We’re both looking forward to the activities this year, and I’m really pleased at how enthusiastic he’s being. The meetings are scheduled for Friday nights, which works into our schedules very nicely.

Rebecca is entering the Girl Scouts, too! Her meetings are on Sunday nights, which isn’t as good as Jacob’s, but at least none of her other activities (Karate & Piano right now) will need to be curtailed.

We made a go with Amanda being fully home-schooled this year, but Mary Lou and I agreed that she needs a bit more time in a traditional setting, so she’s back in Grafton Pre-School a few afternoons per week. This is good to give Mary Lou the time she needs with the older two, and allows Amanda to learn at a more comfortable (to her) pace.

We’re getting a Loop-Loc pool cover put on the pool, and both of us are really looking forward to the ease of opening and closing, not to mention the overall safety of it. If you’ve ever dealt with leaf nets and “droopy” pool covers before, you’ll know what I mean! It’s expensive, but we think it’ll be well worth it.

And finally, our siding and roofing is being done shortly – as with almost everyone in this area, our house got pummeled (FYI: this is a first-hand video where the language is NSFW), literally, with the hail storm earlier this year. I was amazed at how much damage there was, and the appraisal, but that’s why we pay for house insurance!

More when I have time!