The Neverending Story

Posted on July 18, 2009 by Cam

We finally finished moving into our new building and we’re in the process of settling in. I think this move will be a great opportunity for us to grow and I feel like we got a killer deal (owing to the poor economic climate). The move has been very draining, but I think for the most part people have come to be in favor of it. Here’s a quick tour:

Below is part of our storefront. What you see below completely filled our old store from wall to wall.

The current storefront is about three times larger and we have a lot of extra space. It’s a great, but it looks bad… next year we’ll finish it off with counters and more shelving.

This is our warehouse operation. The new warehouse is about five times biggest than the old one which gives plenty of working space and tons of room for new products (most of the warehouse is still empty at this point- I didn’t post a picture of the empty space though).

Our tool area and photo studio areas. Having a dedicated room for pictures is awesome.

This is the office that I share with Fran. I’ve got a picture below of the old office we used to share. It was 8′ x 7′ and we were both crammed in there. I don’t know how we did it. This one is 16′ x 12′ and there’s plenty of room for two (and even a couch… which I desperately want to try sleeping on).

This is Jim’s office. He favors the more executive approach- looks good! And then Jim’s beloved data closet- It’s all he’s ever really wanted.

We got ourselves a conference room with a pompous table and some executive looking chairs (really comfortable chairs though). Our new break room has a sink and a full sized fridge (it has changed my life). We still have the Street Fighter arcade and SNES too. But….

The Ping Pong table has really taken over as the popular break time option. The upstairs lounge has a few couches that spectators can watch from too. I commandeered a little corner space in the warehouse which I plan to make into a garage of sorts (for cleaning, light maintenance, etc).

Below are some pictures of the move. Moving is always emotional for me. Our old store served us well, ultimately it just wasn’t meeting our needs.

It felt really strange to see the store empty again.

This was our old office (remember, Fran was in there too). 7′ x 8′ people! The back wall in the pictures is the 7′ wall. Initially this room had an 8′ ceiling, but we had it raised up to 9′. It really makes us appreciate what we’ve got now.

Despite my agonizingly busy schedule we went up to Idaho for my sister’s wedding. The ceremony was held at a beautiful converted church. Erin Hughes and Doug Atwood were married on June 23, 2009. We couldn’t be happier for them! They currently reside in Idaho. Check out their wedding website HERE!

My busy schedule caused some casualties though. Fran got a Costco Gazebo for our yard at the end of May. It’s still sitting in our yard like you see it below. I’m going to try and get it built for our Anniversary though (end of July). Fran has been busy growing roses and I think they are gorgeous (one time I sprouted a mustard seed which died shortly thereafter- that is the extent of my gardening ability).

I did steal some time to work on another car project that’s been haunting me for several months. I recently got a new car (a newer Corvette) and, aside from the usual tune tweaking, one of my first projects was to put in a new Stereo. I put the head unit and mid speakers from my old car into my new car but I couldn’t move my subwoofers because of car design differences. Justin was on the job- he built my sub box and amp rack and I did the carpet and installation.

I relocated my trunk lights to the center (previously they were on the corners where the sub and amps now go). I think I like them better there.

Instead of two 8″ JL Audio W3 subs I went with one 10″ JL Audio W6 (it’s a beast). I’m running matched Kenwood Excelon amps. Since I only have a single sub this time we tried to balance the visual presentation by putting the amps in the other corner. Overall I think it turned out great.

There’s a ton of other things that happened too, but Fran’s got them covered on Facebook (she posts albums for each month). Some highlights: Fran’s birthday, Gabriel’s Birthday, Father’s Day, Stadium of Fire, and lots more.

My Other Blog

Posted on May 4, 2009 by Cam

Actually the title is misleading- I think I have five other blogs. But that’s waaayy to many to keep track of. I update this one and then then the one for work. Well, I guess actually I update three for work. But the other one I’m talking about is our 2009 store progress. I’ll provide updates here periodically, but the new store has it’s own page on our website so I won’t post pictures here. Anyway, check it out! They should finish up all the framing this week. My excitement is balanced only by the fact that somehow all of our stuff has to end up in the new building.

Toilet Trek

Posted on April 26, 2009 by Cam

A bunch of us are going to see Star Trek on Saturday May 9th. I love the recent theatre innovation of reserved seating at the MegaPlex Cinemas. It’s very reassuring to know that not only will you actually have a seat (yes, I have been to oversold movies) but you know right where your seat is. I waited until advance ticked became available for Star Trek and nabbed the much coveted bar-in-front-of-me-for-my-feet spots. I was kind of surprised when I hopped on yesterday to grab this picture that not a single other seat had been sold. A bit odd, given all the hype. I’m sure it will fill up more as we get closer (so far only one Friday show is sold out- maybe no one knows about online reservations!?).

That’s a roll of tape you see there on the right. Mike decided it was the perfect thing to try and flush. Needless to say, it didn’t make it though. I managed to let the situation drag on for a good month or two becuase the toilet still flushed (sort of) but numerous “incidents” prompted me to finally take action. I had to remove the fixture and snake some cable through. Then I used a wire clamp on one end and pulled the wire through the pipe to dislodge the tape roll (a home made router). Money saved: $347 (no plumber and no router, but I had to spend $3 on a wax seal).

Speaking on plumbing: Construction has started on our new building! I went by and they had ripped up part of the floor to put in bathroom piping. They should start framing as early as next week. I am not looking forward to moving…

Pong and Song

Posted on April 18, 2009 by Cam

We’ve had a ping pong table on our wish list for awhile. I’m not exactly sure why but at some point last week it rose right to the top and we got one. Fran did all the legwork on this one- she picked it out, ordered it and drove up to the warehouse in West Vally in the middle of a thunderstorm to pick it up. It’s a two part design that sits right on top of our pool table- practical and convenient.

Initially I thought that the ceiling fan hung too low in relation to the table (we kept hitting it at first becuase we sucked), but I think “Wind Pong” might turn into a fun variation. I want to try playing with eye patches (“Pirate Pong”- very hard with no depth perception). Fran also proposed putting in black lights and playing with a glow-in-the-dark ball (no name yet).

So far we’ve had three “tournaments.” It’s nothing organized enough to determine if there is a definitive champion (not everyone has played everyone else), but so far it appears that Apana is the King of Ping (or Kong of Pong- whatever you like). Jake has vowed to dethrone him and I will be holding secret practice sessions each Saturday. Anyone up for game? Bring it.

A couple of days ago Justin and I finished the stereo wiring in the car! Ultimately I had great time and I learned a ton of fun stuff, but the stereo upgrade was a way bigger project than we had thought. Running all the cables and keeping them hidden was really tricky (we ended up pulling out tons of the body paneling). The mess of wires behind the head unit was intimidating but we got everything wired up a-ok. I will confess that it was a little frightening to see my car in so many pieces.

I got everything put back together earlier tonight and spent some time road testing it. For the most part I’m really happy with everything. The two subs (JL Audio 8″) are fantastic. They give off nice tight base (which is what I wanted) but still sound very full. I replaced the stock speakers in the rear with some 5 1/4″ Kenwood Exelons (nothing fancy) which have a nice bright sound that complements the subs. I left the 10″ stock speakers in the doors- for now they get the job done just fine. Everything (subs and mids) run of the two Alpine amplifiers (both 250 watts). As an aside, cramming everything into the trunk and still leaving room for the removable roof was difficult, but we pulled it off! Visually I think the set up is very appealing.

There’s a lot of tuning left to do, but I think the final result will exceed my expectations. Sadly I’ve got humming noise that parallels the engine speed. I need to figure out where it’s coming from and what’s causing it. My initial hunch is that the ground wire is too long (the chassis of the car is fiberglass to we had to run the ground wire back to the battery- nearly 16 feet). It may also have to do with poorly shielded wires in the engine bay (i.e. spark plug wires). This, coupled with my Blu Ray sync issues, has made it a bad month for sound! Ah well- it makes me feel manly when I fix stuff.

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Egg-citing Stuff

Posted on April 13, 2009 by Cam

Saturday we spent the morning coloring eggs for Easter. One of these days I’ll have to take time to research the origins of coloring eggs and how that might (read “might not”) relate to the Resurrection of Christ. No idea- but coloring eggs is fun. We used an Transformers coloring kit we bought last year after Easter (I think it was marked down to a buck). Funny thing- the red dye pellet didn’t make it; I guess its shelf life was less than one year. We made our own ready dye with food coloring and vinegar. The kids had a blast (well, not Gabe- he was napping).

That afternoon I commenced the wiring portion of my subwoofer / amplifier install. That’s going to be a big job. Mike was a huge help and we got the seat and some panelling out and and started running the ground wires and RCA cables. This coming week I’ll have to remove the center console and the actual receiver (from the instructions I’ve got it won’t be fun). But hey- that’s what life is all about: Doing things that aren’t fun with the hope that later something not fun that you did will result in fun.

And finally Easter. We hid chocolate eggs in the living room and the real eggs outside. Mike and Claire put the eggs in their baskets but Gabe just put everything in his mouth. Another holiday successfully celebrated!

Where Does the Lime Go?

Posted on April 11, 2009 by Cam

As always I feel compelled to apologize for my haphazard posting schedule. Who am I apologizing to? Probably myself. It’s been a busy couple of months that’s left me feeling more tired than usual. I’m glad spring is here- hopefully the nice weather won’t be far behind.

Fran recently got back from Reunion Island, where she grew up. She spent about two weeks there visiting her family. She has two sisters who live here in Utah, but her parents and two brothers still live on Reunion. Fran was able to go to the beach, hike, visit with her childhood friend and extended family. She took our kids with here (a bold maneuver considering the trip involves over 20 hours of flying- each way) so I got to kick it by myself for a while. Sadly I’m not as cut out for bachelor life as I had hoped. It’s so nice to have her back. Oh… and the kids too I suppose.

Above is the house where she grew up. It’s in a pretty isolated spot on top of a hill. The view is incredible; That’s based on pictures I’ve seen. I’ve never actually been to Reunion. It’s on my list, but the thought of flying there hurts me. I might be able to do it in first class, but the guilt of knowing my family is crammed in coach would eat at me. A little. Plus Reunion has some bad mosquitoes and I’ve had my share of them for now (I’ve got a post on here about being eaten alive at Utah Lake). One day for sure but I’m not ready yet.

And an exciting announcement: We’ve got a new store! This is actually the same building we were planning on moving to last year, but construction delays pushed it back until now. In some ways it will be sad to say goodbye to our old shop– it served us well. Progress is an emotional mercenary.

The outside (shell) is finished and they should start work on the interior later this month. If we can keep everything on schedule we should be in sometime in July or August! We’re trying to plan a bit for the future so we’re getting over three times the space we had before (over 7500 square feet in the new building). The buildout will be two stories: a storefront and a warehouse on the first floor, and offices on the second floor. This should give us plenty of flex ability no matter what opportunities come along.

March was chalk full of birthdays (I turned 31 on the 22nd), but the highlight was probably Jim’s party (he turned 30). Cindy rented out a room at Noah’s and threw an awesome surprise party (check it out on Cindy’s blog). Pictured above from left to right: Tom, Andrew, Rachel, Cam, & Jim.

The one thing I was able to do while I was a bachelor was start my new car stereo! I’m not an audiophile or anything like that, but I do like to turn my music up pretty loud while I drive. My friend Justin suggested that we add some sub-woofers and a couple of amps. He made some custom speaker boxes for the trunk area of my car (it’s hard to tell from the picture, but the boxes are sunk about 9 inches into the trunk bed). We put two 8″ subs in each box and we’ve got two 250watt amps (one for the subs and one for the mids). All we have left is the wiring (which will be the hard part) and I’ll be ready to blast out my ear drums.

I got to see “Fast & Furious” on opening night last week (thanks Fran!). Anyone who knows me can tell you I’m a fan of the series (and a little nutty about tricked out cars). I hosted a Fast & Furious party the Tuesday before the movie came out. I had hoped to make it through the first and third movie (I don’t care too much for the second), but there was so much action in the first that everyone had adrenaline overload and bailed. I felt like “Fast & Furious” was a nice addition to the franchise- it filled in some gaps in the movie arc and provided a few unexpected twists and turns. Definitely worth a watch.

And I have finally made the jump to Blu-Ray (we actually watched “The Fast & The Furious” on Blu-Ray). I’m thrilled with the picture quality- it’s really a night and day difference between the DVD and Blu-Ray resolutions. My projector is 720p/1080i so I’m not getting the full benefit of the Blu-Ray picture quality, but even so… wow. The sound has been problematic. I’m having a sync issue that I haven’t had time to resolve (a sound lag problem) and the mids (voices in particular) are very difficult to hear. I’m not sure if this is a problem with the Samsung Blu-Ray player I have or the Onkyo receiver I’m using (or both in conjunction). I’ll post my progress.

And that’s about it for now. Long live Power Lime!

Bound for Broadway

Posted on February 15, 2009 by Cam

Oak Tree Drama

Oak Tree Standing in Forest: Wow! What a beautiful day!

Woodsman stepping into view: I agree!

Oak Tree: Oh… hey there.

Woodsman: Hey.

Oak Tree: Yep. Nice day.

Woodsman: Yep.

Oak Tree: Ah… so, what brings you to the forest?

Woodsman: Just out for walk.

Oak Tree: With your axe?

Woodsman: Um, well yeah. You never know what kind of danger you might run into.

Oak Tree: No kidding.

Woodsman sits down on an Oak tree stump: So, have any family?

Oak Tree: Excuse me?

Woodsman pulls out a stone and begins to sharpen his axe: Family. Parents, brothers, sisters?

Oak Tree: What are you doing?

Woodsman: My axe felt kind of dull and I just thought I’d sharpen it while we chatted. Any relatives around here at all? Sure would like to meet them.

Oak Tree: No… um, just me. Well, me and my friends.

Woodsman: Friends?

Oak Tree: Yeah, the magic forest elves. They come around and check on me each day to make sure I’m okay.

Woodsman standing and chuckling: I see.

Enter Magic Forest Elf: Hey, you there! What’s going on.

Woodsman: Me?

Magic Forest Elf: Yes you. What are you doing with that Axe?

Woodsman: Oh, I was just going to show it to this Oak tree here. He said he wanted a closer look.

Oak Tree: I didn’t say that!

Magic Forrest Elf: I really doubt he said that.

Woodman to Magic Forest Elf: Would you like to see my Axe?

Magic Forrest Elf: Not really. I actually have a pretty nice Axe back home.

Oak Tree to Forrest Elf: Why do you have an Axe?

Magic Forrest Elf: It’s just a tiny Axe. I use it to chop firewood.

Oak Tree: What? Fire wood? Wait a second. What’s going on here?

Magic Forrest Elf: Oh no… oh no. I, uh… no, I meant I would chop fire. Would chop, but you can’t chop fire, of course. So I forgot. I don’t have an Axe.

Woodsman chops up Magic Forest Elf and then chops down screaming Oak tree.

The End.

I know, I know… what’s wrong with me, right? This is a rough draft segment for my new project, “Conversations of a Disturbing Nature.”

iPhone? Not my phone.

Posted on January 19, 2009 by Cam

Cellular phones have come a looooong way. Fran was the pioneer in our family, adopting one when they were still brick-like and cost two small fortunes. Her phone made and took phone calls… and that’s it. Kind of unreal. Then there was the whole Pocket PC craze (remember the ipaq- why?!). Then the cell phone and Pocket PC were merged into one mostly harmonious whole and we achieved “nerdvana” (that term was coined by Scott Adams in his Dilbert cartoon strip).

Nearly eighteen months ago I got the Sprint HTC Mogul (below left) and I wasn’t sure how things could get any better. Then along came the Apple iPhone (below right, as if you didn’t know). It was sleek, easy to use, versatile, and inexplicably it was only available on the AT&T network. I was still happy with the Mogul… I had high speed Internet. Then along came the 3G iPhone. Now they had high speed Internet too! Meanwhile my phone began to slowly die. One day after the seventh reset I decided that maybe an iPhone was in my future after all. But I still had 7 months left in my Sprint contract… what to do?

Initially I was pretty determined to pay the early cancellation fee for Sprint and hop on the AT&T iPhone train. I even went to buy an iphone…twice. After some extensive research, price comparisons and a good deal of persecution I decided to stick with Sprint and buy a new phone. Right now I have a great deal- 1300 mins, unlimited night & weekend, unlimited texts, unlimited data, and all the other good stuff for $56 a month. That’s the final statement price, including all the taxes. Hard to beat. It would be almost double with AT&T. The Sprint phone I ended up buying was the HTC Touch Pro (below center). Following is my review of the Touch Pro.

On of my biggest gripes with the iPhone is the that you have to type on the screen with the phone in a vertical position. I’m sure that I would have gradually gotten used to it, but I really love the slide out keyboard on the HTC Touch Pro (and on my old Mogul). The keyboard gives you five lines (one more than the Mogul) of typing real estate and the tactile feedback is exceptional. The keyboard is backlit which is another nice feature. Granted, the keyboard makes the Touch Pro a bit on the thick side, but the phone still has a very nice feel and it isn’t nearly as bulky as its predecessors. Given the amount of typing I do on my phone I’m not ready to give the keyboard up… yet.

What impresses me most about the Touch Pro is the screen. The resolution is stunning (640 x 480 on a 2.8″ screen). When I was growing up we had the Atari Lynx, the Sega Game Gear and other color hand held games. You could clearly see the red, blue and geen of the pixels. It drove me nuts. LCD screens, like phones, have come a looooong way. The iPhone screen looks great, but when I look at the Touch Pro screen I’m floored every time. The pixels are so small they aren’t even visible to the naked eye which makes the Touch Pro screen the sharpest I’ve ever seen. A huge problem with the Mogul was that the screen became virtually invisible in bright light. The Touch Pro screen is clearly visible in direct sunlight and from every angle. It’s a little on the small side, but I can deal with it.

Speed-wide the Touch Pro is adequate. I still find myself waiting for things to load occasionally, and sometimes with too many applications open everything crashes. It amazes me to think that this little phone is more powerful (and in some cases much more powerful) than my first five computers. The Touch Pro runs Windows Mobile 6.1 which seems pretty stable for the most part. HTC has created an interface they call Touch Flow 3D which runs over Windows and makes it a little easier to use (you can actually avoid the stylus altogether for most functions). Truthfully I think the iPhone’s interface is more intuitive and better thought out, but HTC has taken a step in the right direction here.

Functionally I really like the Touch Pro. Email is easy to use, text messaging has been improved (and again, I really like the keyboard) and Opera is the default browser now (it works very well). The 3.2 megapixel camera takes passable pictures (the color seems a little off), but I do like the fact that I can take videos with the Touch Pro. Window’s Mobile gives me access to Windows Live which is a pretty comprehensive information tool (maps, directions, traffic, movies, shopping info, etc). Applications aren’t as easy to get (the iPhone store is something to behold), but there is plenty of software available if you don’t mind a little digging.

The Touch Pro isn’t perfect- I have a few minor complaints. The touch screen seems to require more force than my Mogul did (I have to push a good deal harder to get the same results). HTC uses a proprietary input jack so you need an adapter for headphones. Touch Flow 3D isn’t as customizable as I’d like either. Still, all things considered this is a great phone and I’m really enjoying it. For the time being, my phone is not an iPhone.

I’m going to poke Fran and see when the next Hughes Family Blog update will be. I may have to start posting some of our activities over here! We’ve kept pretty busy this past week (the first week I’ve really felt up to doing anything) with movies, food, family activities (I finally went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point) and friends. I’ve really cut back on work these days and I’m taking it easy. Sometimes life is really great.

CamHughes.com

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