Upcoming Phils trip update

[Aeson]

Originally posted by Lancer
WoW that's great! That's a 30 degree difference.

Looking forward to the pics.

It'll be ~50-70 degree difference later in the year hopefully. At least on sunny days. (Today was mostly cloudy in fact.)

The hammock in the front yard:



View of the sun room from the hammock:

[Aeson]

Crap, forgot my camera was set to larger than 800x600... will fix that shortly.

[Lancer]

Nice work. The roof glass is siliconed to the rafters? like the look of the room. Did you use heat absorbing dark colors inside?

If you took the two wood pieces out of your hammock and tossed then it would be easy to cut and drill new pieces I would think... Hmm, cut them to length, drill them and then cut them lengthwise on the table saw along the row of holes. Then tape the ropes into the halved holes and screw&glue the halves together. Or not.

[Aeson]

It's all plexi actually. Silicon under the plexi on the beams. We milled some 1x4 out of the same stock as the framing*, and layed those down on top of the plexi on the beams (silicon there too), then drilled through and screwed into the beams. Came off really well except for that closest corner, which cracked the first really cold night. (Hole through the plexi must have been a little offset and the screw cracked it when the beams contracted in the cold.)

*My Dad originally wanted to use 6x6s for the ridge pole and center upright beam, but I talked him into using 4x4s and we milled the 6x6s he already had down into the window frames too. Lots of work on the table saw...

Inside hasn't been finished yet (cept for the window frames and rafters). Floor will be stained laminated plywood, probably dark. Not sure what the panels will be.

[Lancer]

Those are big sheets of plexi. Don't think I've seen them so large before.

Your folks must be pretty happy to have that room.

[Aeson]

It'll be nice over the winter. And my Dad plans on turning it into a greenhouse for certain produce that likes extreme heat in the summer.

My Dad was planning on ordering vinyl frame windows, but since we were doing the roof with plexi I suggested just making the windows out of it and our spare beams. They were 8'x4' sheets, 6 of them. The extra 2 sheets cost less than one of the vinyl windows would have.

Used 5' of 4 of the sheets on the roof. The extra off those sheets went for the smaller windows. The other 2 sheets covered the larger windows and the openings in the eaves.

Have some extra still, might finish off the side window on my computer case finally

[Lancer]

I built a greenhouse out of lexan panels for a customer once. The stuff is molded into long square hollow tubes and is maybe 5/16s thick. The hollow part adds to the R value, effectively becoming thermal pane. The folks wanted a thermostacly controled space that would stay warm at night with minimal heating. They were growing orchids so it had to hold the heat.

Neat little project. Anyway where we are going these skills are wasted. The damn orchids, grow like weeds. Can't keep them down.

[Lancer]

Didn't have nice big beams like yours, it was pretty simple in its structure.

[Aeson]

Originally posted by Lancer
Neat little project. Anyway where we are going these skills are wasted. The damn orchids, grow like weeds. Can't keep them down.

Well you do have a flying roof to look forward to, right?

[Lancer]

Yup. Maybe not this trip though.

[Aeson]

Tickets purchased

[Lancer]

Same here.





Now all we need is Zkrib in January.

Philippines, here we come!!1!

[Lancer]

We are 2 days from the 10 day countdown.

Roughly 2 months to Zkribs'. What was your day O departure again Zkrib?

[Lancer]

Found it!

to the Phils: Wednesday, Jan. 7
to the U.S.: Wednesday, Jan. 31

Too short though.

[Lancer]

Ok, the SNAFU tweadle. I don't like writing the SNAFU tweadle, don't know why. So if we get fogged in at EUG or Aeson you get snowed in at SLC, we don't meet in SEA.

So now, despite our best efforts, you have to make the journey alone. My first trip to the Phils was alone.

Always remember that if you check in on time the airlines involved in your ticket have the obligation to deliver you to your final destination on that ticket, which is Manila.

Never been to the airport in Seattle, can't help much there.

Taipei is pretty simple, check your flight, get to the gate. You might get your boarding pass in Seattle. If not, remember to get it. Simple. Recheck your gate because they sometimes change. There's email here so you can give us a heads up.

Manila. Bottled water only. Buy maybe a hundred bucks worth of pesos. If you are late maybe $200. The rate here isn't too bad and its good to have some of the local currency in hand just in case. Get some small stuff for tips etc. Here you have to take a provided bus from the international to the domestic airport which is free. Meet it out on the street. Ask lots of questions. Once I got in there and had to ask several people before someone had a clue. When you get to where you think you should be, ask some more until you're sure. Tip the bus baggage helper maybe P20. You will see porters with numbers on their ragged vests, this is normal and I've never had a problem with them taking off with a bag. 50P to a hundred would be normal depending on the amount and distance of the haul. Look around, sometimes the post the prices. You can ask first. At this point its all confusing and crazy and you're wondering if you did the right thing. But you won't be bored. Split your $, keep it in two places on your body.

Don't lose your passport.

They'll take you to the domestic airport where if you're a day late you might have to buy a ticket. Check at the desk and see if you can convince them to let you use the ticket from the day before. Good luck. Cebu Pacific will have already left so go to the Philippines Airlines and get a ticket to Tagbilaran. If there is no seat available get one for the next day. I got from Darlene the name of a closeby place to stay, the Copacabana. They have a website you can check it out and get contact info and can put you up for $55 according to the site. Taxi time. Or you could stay in the airport, but Manila isn't very nice.

So far no contact from Dolores's cousin in Manila so we might not get the help there. We can have Dolores's friend in Bohol buy the MNL/TAG tickets in which case they'll be waiting for us at the desk in Manila, God willing.

Once in Tag, the family will be there. Sho will likely have his little red truck. You've seen him in the pics...

I'll keep adding stuff to this as I think of it.

I'm sure Zkrib will add his wisdom...