Done with Mirrors

You will recall my bumper mod, and how I was dissatisfied with the results of the illumination. Here's what I've done to improve it some.

I drilled several holes through the plastic bumper core, in the areas that weren't getting good light transmission, both vertically and horizontally.

On the original installation, I'd thought it would diffuse enough light to illuminate the opening with the light strips facing up vertically on the metal bumper core, but I was mistaken.

So, after drilling the holes to allow the light to pass through, I mounted a strip of highly polished stainless steel on a 45° angle over the LED strips. The result looked promising...

Then, above the vertical series of holes, I added another strip, again on a 45° angle, for a periscope effect.

The blue light seems considerably more visible, and across a wider area. I'm pleased with the results!!! My goal from the beginning was to have the light diffused and subtle, yet across the openings.

The red light, however, is still a bit light. It's visible, but just barely. The picture actually has quite a bit of light scatter from the tail lights. I may be opening up the area one more time!!!

Yule Do Over

Remember two years back when the company had the Christmas Party at Universal Studios??? Apparently, it was so well received that it was deemed worthy of doing it again!!! Two years back, I took the day off so we could spend some time at the park before the party started. This year, when they were distributing the tickets, they tell me, "Oh, you do the Saturday shift, right??? This year, for your crew, we're giving out the wristbands, and instead of passes for that day, here's a pair that are good until the end of the year!!!" Cool!!!

So, after I got off work that day, came home and got changed, then my wife and I headed over there. It was a good time again, tasty English style foods, and all the butterbeer you can drink!!! Two years back, when we were on the way out, I grabbed a bottle of the pumpkin juice drink they had there, and brought it home for the younger. He liked it, and asked us to try and get some more. Got two!!!

So, most of the year since the announcement, the younger has been bemoaning that he's never even been to Harry Potter land. Since I had separate wristbands and passes, a plan forms...

I took the Thursday before Christmas off, and the boy and I went!!! It was a good time, and while we were there, we both played Pokemon Go a good amount!!! At the time I had a Bulbasaur as my buddy, and there he is!!! He caught a shiny Charmander, so that was cool. We, and several others, did a 5-star raid, and got a Virizion, my highest one.

The first thing we did was hit the Harry Potter ride. We used the single rider line, and the wait wasn't too bad at all. Got some butterbeer afterwards, and found out that all the butterbeer I'd gotten for free was pretty expensive if you were to pay for it!!!

Went to the Simpson's area, and got a shot of Homer and Marge from behind from inside the shop we were in. Surprise, they were out of "Bort" license plates!!!

We headed down to the lower lot, the only area with anything approximating a proper roller coaster, the mummy coaster. Just as we got to the entrance, out of it comes the mummy himself, flanked by two very tall acolytes or priests-priestesses!!! The female one stopped by my boy and was petting his head!!! Then we posed for a picture with them all.

Also down in that area are the Jurassic Park ride, and the Transformers ride. They have recently redone the Jurassic Park ride, but it's one of those where you will likely get wet, and being on the chilly side, we had no interest in doing that!!!

We had never been on the Transformers ride, though, so we went over to check that out. Single rider line again, with a very short wait time. and it's a pretty good ride. However, close to the end of the ride, it broke down. It wasn't that long of a break down, but I did get a chance to take a couple of pictures!!!

On the way out, they gave us a couple of passes to go on the ride again in compensation. We went over and went through the Jurassic Park gift shop, then doubled back and went on the Transformers ride again, before heading back up.

The plan was to go on the tram tour, but we had just missed the last one for the day, so we went on the Simpsons ride, which had the longest wait of any of the rides we went on!!!

We'd gone to the Waterworld stunt show earlier on in the day, always entertaining.

I like the way the arch lines up with my head in this shot!!!

Headed back to Harry Potter land, where they were now restricting people going into the area. Not long after they had their Holiday display light show, projected on Hogwart's.

We had noticed the flare of fire coming out of the chimney before, and finally figured out that there's a spot where you can use your fancy new wand to cause it to do so. Went on the Harry Potter ride one more time, and the boy bought himself a good looking Hufflepuff watch.

Back in the Simpson's area, there's Luigi's Pizzeria, and the boy was interested in getting a slice. They have good sized slices, but they were almost $10 for a slice!!! I averred that for less than that, we could get a whole pizza. He made mention of that garlic knots pizza, so we ordered that on the way home to cap off the day. Here I am in the shirt I'd worn all day, one of my recent acquisitions, that depicts an alien eating pizza!!!

Wild Snorlax Hunt

A great many things have happened. There were a couple of trips to Universal Studios, Christmas, Gravy day, and a radiator. I'm going to go with this, though.

In the middle of November, my younger boy wanted me to sign up for Pokemon Go, so he could friend me for one of his achievements. OK, I can do that. I don't know how much I'll do beyond that.

Well, I did, and I've taken to it some!!! Here I am, after I'd taken over my first local gym, and my Tauros was shown over it.

And there I am, after I'd defeated a Team Rocket Grunt. Yes, digital blackface. I like the look. Oh yeah, I've swapped out my original hat for a winter time beanie.

And there the boy and I are, getting ready to do a raid.

Last Friday, we were down at my parents house to celebrate Christmas with the extended family. My nephew was there, and he was asking my son if he was going to call his companion Pokemon "Little Catnip", so I renamed mine "Lil Irv"!!! There he is!!! I looked around, and saw there was going to be a raid going on at the park near there, and asked my son if he wanted to go. Just before we left, he looked around and saw there was a Snorlax at the Pokestop along the San Gabriel River bike path behind my parents' house. He really wants to get a Snorlax, as well as a shiny Evee.

OK, we'll try and get over there and get us some Snorlax action!!! We drove over to a far corner of the park, then walked past the golf course, across the river to the bike path, down to where another river joins, and across a bridge and down some from there.

It was quite a bit farther than I'd remembered!!! I'd guess we probably went at least a mile and a half one way. As a youngster, I'd used to ride my bike down there with my friends, and I related some of the stories as we made our way.

It was really getting to be the Golden Hour as we were working our way down, and we got some great pictures!!!

Of course, by the time we got there, there was no Snorlax to be seen. Oh well, we got to spend some time together, take some pictures, and do some father-son bonding!!!

Never got to do the raid, either. Ah well. Good times!!!